Gemini
by MahNati
Summary: As the new edition of Super Smash Bros is about to begin, Nana and Popo find themselves in a situation in which they must learn how to fight alone. But there's something evil lurking in the shadows in this new tournament... The Ice Climbers will soon realize being separated in the battlefield will be the least of their problems.
1. We are going to what?

**Hey guys! Long time no see. It's been a while, hasn't it? Four years to be exact. **

**I could give a thousand excuses as to why I have stopped writing, but that still won't make the original "Gemini" story finish itself. So I've decided to give this fic another try and rewrite it. **

**For those who have been reading it for the romance, I'm (not) sad to announce it's been completely removed. Mostly because nowadays I find it very squicky and I have no idea what was in my mind back in the days that I ever thought it was okay. Some other subplots have also been completely discarded, due to my incompetence of handling them tastefully. **

**Hopefully I got better at grammar too. And now that I said everything that needed to be said, let's get this thing going.**

* * *

The moon was already high in the starry sky when the gates to the smash mansion began to open for the waiting Smashers outside. Fighters, who came from whole different worlds and backgrounds, stepped inside the building in a hurry, happy to be returning to the place they called a second home. The halls, once empty and silent since the end of the last tournament, were now being filled with life once more. A new Super Smash Bros tournament was about to begin and they couldn't be happier.

In the middle of all of that, two Smashers, similar in face and attire (the exception being that the boy had a blue parka, while the girl wore a pink one), seemed especially agitated. Popo gave out a sigh in annoyance as he let himself be dragged by the wrist by his sister Nana.

"C'mon, Popo. We need to find them soon!" the girl said as the two of them zigzagged through the crowd of smashers, her almond, dark eyes, scanning the place.

"If you actually slowed down for a little bit, I'm sure they would have appeared already," Popo replied, making gestures of sorry with his hand to whoever they had hit by accident.

"If we slow down, then we really aren't going to…" she stopped her train of thought as she finally had spotted who they were looking for. "Aha! There they are!"

"Wait, what-" the boy couldn't even finish his sentence, as he received a strong pull from his sister.

"Lucas, Ness, Toon Link! You're all here too!" Nana exclaimed.

The three boys turned their attention to where the voice was coming from. Lucas almost lost his balance as the girl Ice Climber collided with him in a strong hug, almost throwing both of them to the ground. After the initial shock, the blonde smiled shyly and hugged her back. Popo, after massaging his sore wrist, high-fived Ness and Toon Link.

"It's nice to see you guys again," Lucas said breaking apart from the hug.

"Yeah, after what felt like forever, here we are again," Ness commented, hands in the pockets of his shorts. He took a good look at the twins and smirked. "And even after all this time, you two still look the same. Are you now able to separate from each other, or are we going to have to deal with you two acting like magnets, like you did in Brawl?"

"I don't know, Ness. What about you? Are you now able to tell good jokes, or are we going to have to deal with you trying to be funny like you did in Brawl?" Popo replied sarcastically.

"I'm hilarious, don't even try to deny it."

Toon Link smirked and made a negative gesture with his head. Ness was about to reply, but was soon silenced by a powerful voice that echoed through the entire hall.

"If everyone could stop talking for a minute, I would be really grateful. Thank you."

All the smashers stopped immediately what they were doing to turn to the owner of the voice. A giant white gloved hand with no body gently hovered down the central stairs and took place in the center of the room.

"First of all, I would like to thank you all for being here in this new edition of Super Smash Bros. You all know how these tournaments really mean to me," Master Hand, the host and owner of the Smash Mansion, said. "As you can all see, we have some new faces joining us in the upcoming tournament. I want you all to treat them well and as the same way you treat your fellow veteran Smashers."

Popo looked around him, actually paying attention to the other Smashers this time, now that he didn't have Nana dragging him left and right in the hall. Indeed, there were people he couldn't recognize. He saw a short, cyan eyed boy wearing a blue helmet; a tall, white, mannequin-like woman and another boy wearing a simple red shirt and whose stare was so unnerving that Popo thought it might actually haunt him at night (not wanting to be mean spirited or anything, he barely knew the guy), among many others.

"Sadly, some smashers from the last tournament couldn't return for reasons they wish I would not tell. I'm sure you can all understand that."

"It's-a okay. It was-a to be expected some wouldn't return. We can't-a force anyone to keep participating," Mario said.

"You are absolutely right, Mario," Master Hand said, a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "Alright everyone, here are the rules for the ones who are not familiar with them. One month of training before the tournament starts, battles from Monday to Friday, no pets allowed and I don't want to see anyone outside their rooms after 2 AM. Now come get your luggage, form a line and got get your envelopes with your room keys and battle schedules with Crazy Hand."

As soon as his name was mentioned, Crazy Hand burst into the room, carrying a big velvet box. Even though he was extremely excited with the new tournament and had a strange urge to bounce into the walls because of that, he promised to his brother he would try to control himself and not cause an accident like he did last time.

Poor Pichu was never the same since.

"Hiiiii, people! It's really nice to re-see ya'll!" Crazy shouted, bouncing the box up and down.

"Popo, let's go before we have to wait in line!" Nana said tugging at his sleeve.

But it was too late. Most of the smashers had had the same thought and already rushed to get their envelopes, with the first in line being Sonic like always. The hedgehog just needed to be the first in everything.

"Dammit," they both muttered.

It seemed like an eternity for everyone to get their stuff and leave. One by one, the smashers got their luggage, greeted the hand brothers and headed towards their rooms. Finally, after Ness got his key, it was the Ice Climber's turn.

"Nice to see ya here, Nono and Papa!" Crazy said.

"Popo and Nana, Crazy," Popo gave a playful smile. "It's nice to see you too."

Crazy Hand shakily took two envelopes out from the box. He handed one to Popo and the other one to Nana.

"What?"

The twins looked confused at each other. Why did they receive each one an envelope? On the previous tournaments, they received only one. They opened their envelopes and saw that the keys they have received were for different rooms. The schedules were different too. Now that was really weird. Why Master Hand was giving separate rooms and battles for them? They always have shared the same room, the same battles. Now they had to sleep and fight alone? It was better for Master Hand if he explained what was happening.

"Master Hand, why are our rooms and schedules different?" Nana asked.

"Could you two please go into to my office? It's something I want to talk to the both of you in private." Master Hand gestured for them to follow him.

"Ho ho! Popo and Nana are already in trouble!" Crazy Hand cackled.

"Crazy, shut up," Nana sighed.

The Ice Climbers looked apprehensively at each other and followed Master Hand to his office. The hand opened the room's big mahogany door in a swift motion and the three entered.

"Please close the door and take a seat," he said as he floated to his desk.

Popo closed it and took the seat next to his sister. Nana took a quick glance at him before turning her attention to the giant hand in front of her.

"You probably want to know why I gave separate rooms and schedules to you two, right?"

"Yeah," Nana said confused, "I mean, in Melee and Brawl we fought together and shared the same dorm room. Why this sudden change?"

"It's something I've been thinking, and I'm sure others as well, since Brawl. I think it is about time you two got your own space and individuality."

"Still not catching on."

Master Hand sighed. The Ice Climbers weren't usually the brightest Smashers in the mansion.

"Basically, it is about time you two got separate rooms. Considering you were the only Smashers to share one to begin with, it was really weird, and it felt unfair to both of you. But now that we've reformed some areas of the mansion, we finally have more rooms," he finished, waiting for sighs of relief and thanks from the twins.

Instead what he got were protests from both of them. Now that really got him confused.

"But we never complained about having to share a room before!" Nana exclaimed irritated.

"Yeah, we were doing just fine," Popo said scratching the back of his head. Unlike Nana, he was making sure to keep the volume of his voice down, as he was more afraid of Master Hand than she was. "Y-You really didn't need to go through all this work to just…"

"Yes, yes I had," the disembodied hand said, also getting a little irritated at the pink Ice Climber. "This is not only about your room, but it is also about your fighting style. Research told that people found really unfair that you two fought together, because you were strong enough to fight alone. And thinking about it, it was unfair," he pointed his index finger at the too. "The system of you fighting together in Melee was acceptable, but after gaining skills and getting stronger, you two became overpowered in Brawl."

"You know what? These people must have only shit in their heads!" Nana whispered angrily to Popo, who slightly nodded.

Master Hand decided to politely ignore this remark, for his own health.

"You two are so co-dependent on each other, it's reaching levels of ridiculous. I am pretty sure you two have already heard a million magnet jokes by now because of it."

Ness' remark passed through the Ice Climbers had at the same time. The memory of that cheesy grin of his certainly wasn't helping the mood.

"You need to learn how to fight on your own, be your own person, not a two-in-one pack. So this is why I'm taking these measurements," he said with a stern voice.

Seeing how the twins were not going to interrupt him with some sort of sassy remark, he continued. "From now on, you two are going to sleep in different bedrooms, battle in different schedules and fight different opponents. It is for your own good."

"So what? You gonna prohibit us from seeing each other too, or something like that?" Nana asked sarcastically.

"No, Nana, I am not that much of an extremist," the hand sighed. "Do whatever you want in your spare time. I just don't want you two fighting and sleeping in the same room together. That is all."

She opened her mouth to reply to the hand, but Popo quickly covered it with one hand and gave a "shut up" glare to her. He then turned to Master Hand. "We understand, Master Hand. Sorry about Nana, it's just that the whole idea is new to us and everything. It's just a really huge shock, you know?"

If Master Hand had a head, he would have nodded it, relieved for Popo stopping the tiring argument. Maybe listening to her brother, the pink Ice Climber would calm down. Popo took his hand off from her mouth.

"Nana, I know this is frustrating. I don't like the idea of having to fight alone either, trust me on that. But it's not that bad. I mean, now we have our own bedroom. You can do whatever you want with our room without me complaining."

Nana lowered her eyes. How she hated when Popo was right! She wouldn't be as frustrated if it was just about the separate rooms, she was more upset about fighting alone than anything. And Master Hand was kind of right. They needed to grow as fighters, and depending on each other wasn't going to do them any favors.

However, if there was something that she didn't like was to admit she was wrong. She tried her best to swallow her pride and was about to agree, when she noticed they were missing a "small" detail.

"We have the exact same move set! How can we fight alone and be independent and all that stuff you just said if we are considered clones of each other?"

"Now, now," Master Hand waved his fingers in a calming manner. "Remember that you still have one month to think up a move set and train before the Tournament starts. You can even make a deal and divide your special move set. Then you will need to think up with only two special moves."

Master Hand floated to the door and opened it. "I hope I clarified everything. If you still have more questions, you can come here whenever you want that I'll answer. Now go to your new rooms, unpack your stuff, take a shower and have a good night of sleep. You're dismissed."

The Ice Climbers walked side by side, caring their luggage. They didn't exchange a word since they left Master Hand's office as they were too busy organizing their thoughts. New tournament, new rooms, new move set… and alone. What's worse, there was even the possibility of them fighting each other. Just the thought of their hammers clashing made a frown appear on the siblings' faces.

After crossing practically the entire second's floor corridor, they reached Nana's room.

"Here we are," Nana unlocked the door. "Let's see…"

The room looked just like the previous one they had in Brawl, with the walls painted in a sky blue color and the floor covered by a creamy carpet. The only difference was that it looked bigger without the duplicated mobile. Now there was only one bed, one wardrobe, one desk. The inside bathroom would also look bigger.

"Well, I'm going to my room now," Popo said. "It will probably look like yours, but manlier."

As he was about to leave, Nana dropped the two luggage's she was carrying.

"I think it will be hard to get used to this," she said. "Having to sleep alone in the dark, and…"

"Wait!" Popo interrupted her. "In the dark? Don't tell me that you are still afraid of the dark!"

"O-Of course not!" Nana blushed furiously.

"Ha ha! That's rich!" he laughed. "I thought you got over your fear of the dark when you were thirteen!"

"I got over it when I was eight!" she replied.

"Oh, really? Then why I always heard you shiver when Meta Knight used his Final Smash on us? And why did you always had to sleep with one light on?"

"Because I feel more comfortable sleeping with the light on. And of course I shivered! It's almost like you don't know how much of a pain in the ass Meta Knight's final smash is!"

"Pff… yeah right!" Popo smirked. "You just pretended the whole time. You are still a scaredy cat! "

"Shut up Popo!"

"Your sister is right, Popo. You better silence yourself, or I shall do it instead," said someone from the door.

They both turned around, only to find a tall and gracious woman wearing noble robes standing there, her arms crossed. A golden tiara adorned her well-treated brown hair, giving her an air of importance.

"Zelda!" Nana hugged the Hylian princess. "Haven't seen you yet. How are you doing?"

Zelda smiled and hugged her back. "It is a pleasure the see both of you again."

Popo didn't know if he should be surprised or not at how very little the princess have changed since the last tournament, to the point where only squinting your eyes really hard you'd be able to tell if there was any difference to begin with. Maybe it was a Hylian thing, but Zelda looked as beautiful as ever. Her brown hair looked a shade lighter and she seemed to have been training for a bit, as her body seemed slightly muscular, but nothing too distracting.

"So I have heard from Crazy Hand that you two were now given separate rooms, is that correct?" Zelda asked, checking the room.

"Yeah…" Nana answered half-heartedly.

"You don't seem happy about it. Mind if I ask why?"

"I mean, it's good, I guess. But it's just so weird," the girl scratched the back of her head, not sure what her problem really was.

By all accounts, her hesitancy didn't make any sense. She and her brother were already at the age where it was about time both got their own personal space, that's true. But something about that idea just didn't click right in her mind. She had absolutely no idea what was going on with her head.

"I understand that you may feel a little awkward at first, but you shall see it is for the best," Zelda said, interrupting Nana's thoughts. "Now changing the subject, Peach and I wanted to ask if you wouldn't like to come to my room later after dinner. Now that we finally have some women newcomers, we thought it would be good to socialize with them and do something of a girl's meeting. Are you interested?"

That caught Nana by surprise. A girl's meeting? She never had been invited to one of those secret meetings in Zelda's room before. She only knew about them because Peach commented it unintentionally with her once.

Granted, she could count on her fingers how many of those meetings they had, so it's not like she had missed a lot, but still.

"S-Sure! Is Samus going too?" Nana asked.

"No, she informed she was busy setting up her computer and other technological equipment," Zelda walked to the door. "I am off now to unpack. Goodbye you two."

She then turned to Popo. "Don't you even try to comment about this meeting with anyone. And stop teasing your sister. Understood?" she said pointing a finger to him. Popo rolled his eyes and made an affirmative sign. In a swift move, Zelda left the place. The blue Ice Climber stretched his back.

"I'm also going to my room now," he said ruffling Nana's hair. "Later sis."

He got the luggage left in the corridor and walked away. Nana took another look at her new room and sighed.

"Later..."

* * *

**And that's it for now. I've got to admit it is pretty similar to the original first chapter, but the differences start to appear a little later. Anyway, review if you liked it.**

**Or not, that's cool too.**


	2. Just for this night, please

Popo sighed in relief as he finished unpacking his stuff. Who knew he could bring so many things to the Mansion? After literally kicking his luggage under his bed, he took off all his blue parka's pieces and instantly wrapped around his waist the towel that was left ready on his bed. Without even bothering to pick on his clothes left on the floor, he went to the bathroom to take a shower. Now that Nana wouldn't be around he could take a shower whenever he wanted and in peace, without having to say every time for her to turn around, or having to hear her nagging about him leaving his clothes on the floor. It was actually a weird liberty; he got so used to his sister there. Not only used to, but he actually liked sharing rooms with her.

Even with all the arguments they had time after time, Popo considered Nana his best friend. Every time he was in trouble with, be it with anyone, for something he did, it was Nana who would always help him get away from punishment (of course she would lecture him later, but Popo considered her lectures better than other types of punishment). When they arrived for the first time in Melee and nobody knew them, it was Nana who always stayed by his side and gave him the strength to fight. It was her who always played with him and gave him comfort when he was sad or frustrated.

"I'll get used to her not being here. Hell, we are just having separate rooms and schedules. It's not like we are being totally separated from each other!" Popo thought as he entered in the shower.

His body relaxed as the hot drops of water fell on him; however, his mind was still very active. He tried convincing himself that he was making a huge case of something small, that just because they were being separated in different rooms and battles, it didn't mean they wouldn't see each other again.

He continued re-enforcing this thought through for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Time to go," Nana thought as she saw the digital watch on the bed desk showing 2:30 AM. Everyone in the mansion knew that, whatever you wanted to do outside of your room without being caught, you needed to wait for Master Hand to check all dorm rooms to see if everyone was sleeping, which was exactly at 2 AM.

The Ice Climber went to the door and opened it slowly, being careful to not make a sound. After adjusting her dark brown eyes to the dim lighted of her surroundings, she left her room and started to cross the large corridor. She kept looking forward at every step she took, as she was afraid that, if she looked to the sides, something or someone would jump out of the doors. It wasn't like she was afraid of the dark… Nana just felt anxious with all that silence and emptiness. She wouldn't admit it near others, but she was a rather jumpy person.

Nana gave a small sigh of relief as she reached Zelda's door. She knocked three times before she heard the princess' voice from the other side.

"Yes?"

"Hey, it's me," she said in a low voice. "May I come in?"

As soon as the door opened, her eyes met with the Hylian's welcoming sea green eyes.

"What a pleasure to see you, Nana! Please, do come inside," Zelda gestured for her to enter.

Nana stepped in and the first thing she noticed was Peach seated on the floor, smiling at her. Her stunning blonde hair looked wavier than before, which made the girl wonder if that was her natural hair, or if she just passed some products to look like that. Who knows? One way or another, the Mushroom Kingdom princess still looked as pretty and well-groomed as ever.

"I am so happy to see you again, Nana!" Peach said sweetly and tapped a spot by her side. "Sit by my side, I insist!"

Nana shyly went by her side and, once she settled down, she analyzed the three other women present there, all of them tall and imposing. There wasn't a single newcomer there that was as short and simple as her, save for maybe Peach, or the white as porcelain woman in yoga pants, but even she was pretty big and intimidating.

But nothing compared to the aura the other two emanated. Peach and Zelda looked like commoners near them, something Nana thought it wouldn't ever be possible. One of them, with long green hair, blue eyes and a playful expression, sported a pure white robe with golden lining. She could easily be taken for as a goddess. In fact, Nana wouldn't be surprised if she was actually one in her home world.

The other, wearing a much simpler cyan robe, had a face similar to Peach's, only Nana noticed her aqua eyes looked much mellower. Or rather, her aqua eye. The other one was covered by her pale blond bangs, giving her a rather mysterious vibe.

The Ice Climber almost felt like the token kid at that moment. She was surrounded by goddesses, what the hell!

"Is anyone else coming?" asked the pale blonde woman.

"I do not think so, Rosalina," Zelda said taking a seat by her said. "Unless Samus and Jigglypuff decide to grace us with a surprise visit, which I sincerely doubt it will happen."

It didn't take more than five minutes for the conversation between everyone there to flow. Despite their imposing aura, Nana soon started to get along with the newcomers. They were a lot friendlier than she expected. Palutena, the green-haired woman, who actually turned to be the goddess of light in her home world, seemed to like to joke around and have a good time. She apparently liked to tease Nana here and there, but it was all in good fun.

Rosalina, while not much of a jokester, was very kind and polite. Her voice was also pretty soothing, which made sense, since in her world, the same one Peach and Mario came from, she was the mother of the stars and looked over the cosmos.

And then there was the Wii Fit Trainer. Apparently, she didn't have a name (or she'd rather not talk about it), so everyone there agreed to simply call her Wii Fit. Despite her uncanny appearance, with her mannequin-like stature and stiff movements, she was actually a pleasant person. Back in her home world, she was just a simple yoga instructor, and was just as clueless as everyone in the room as to why she was invited to the tournament. This only made everyone there all the more curious to see how she'd fit in the battlefield.

Nana would definitely search for her if she ever needed tips for a healthier lifestyle.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Wii Fit," Palutena commented. "You don't look like the type of person who skips her sleep schedule."

"And I don't. I'm only making an exception tonight," the trainer said, her sitting posture perfect.

"Speaking of battlefield, have you seen how Ike's muscles have grown?!" Peach asked looking at Zelda with surprised eyes.

"How couldn't I?! He was already so strong last tournament. With muscles like those, his strength must be simply monstrous," Zelda shivered.

"Well, he was pretty slow in Brawl despite his physical strength, wasn't he?" Palutena said putting her index finger on her chin. "I'm sure his speed hasn't improved. Projectile attacks might work just fine against him."

"How do you know that?" Nana asked surprised at how the goddess knew the Ike's fighting style.

Palutena got closer to her, looking straight in the girl's eyes. "Through my all seeing eye, I can look into your aura and memories. I can see each and every one of your battles like I was there."

"W-Wow, really?!" she asked, suddenly feeling intimidated that her private memories were being invaded.

"He he, no. I'm just messing with you," the goddess chuckled and got back to the pillow she was seated on. "I used to watch Pit's battles from a screen in Skyworld. That's how I know a lot."

Nana gave a long sigh in relief. She should have learned that by now she had become the perfect target for Palutena's jokes (after Pit, of course).

"By the way, Nana, Zelda has told me that now you will be battling without Popo's help from now on. Is that true?" Peach asked.

She nodded. Did she really need to keep reminding her of that?

"I was wondering how are you going to battle if both of you have the same move set?"

"We'll think up on a new move set for each one tomorrow," Nana hugged her legs. "No big deal. But I don't like the fact that we might fight each other in the future."

"The two two sure do get along, don't you?" Zelda asked.

"He's by far my best friend," she answered with a smile. "Sure we do argue a lot, and we love to compete in some things, but he is still my best friend. Every time we went climbing a mountain, he always got worried if I was okay and if I could continue. And he was pretty much all I had when we were two newcomers in Melee."

"I am certain you will do just fine on your own. You are stronger than you give credit to yourself," Peach said sweetly. "But let's stop talking about this and get into the serious business."

The princess got up and went to Zelda's desk. Nana turned around and saw Peach getting a large baby pink suitcase. She tilted her head to the side as Peach sat on the floor and put down the suitcase. Zelda's eyes were sparking with mischief.

"Now you have nowhere to run. After passing the whole Brawl Tournament insisting, I can finally…"

In a swift move, Peach opened the case and revealed a complete make-up kit. Nana's eyes grew wider as she saw possibly every type of make-up perfectly organized in the compartment. Blushes, glosses, eye liners, pancakes… every imaginable thing was there.

"Get to put some make-up on you!" she said gleefully.

"Where shall we start?" Zelda asked as she got an orange lipstick.

Nana raised her hands defensively. "Uh… you don't really need to do this! I'm fine the way I am. Plus, I don't think make-up will…" she was interrupted by Peach, who started passing some base on her face, despite her protests.

"You have a pretty face Nana. You just need to give an "up" to it, if you know what I am saying. Now be quiet so I can pass some blush."

She made a face at the powder that the princess kept spreading. Nana never liked make-up that much; it just didn't fit her in her opinion. The Ice Climber was about to protest more when she felt the Hylian's soft hands combing her unbraided brown hair. Nana looked in plea to the other women in the room, only to find them watching the whole find in amusement.

What a bunch of sadists!

She sighed in defeat and nodded. Fine, but just because they wanted it that bad and she didn't have the courage to keep saying "no" to them. The two princesses grinned at the response and worked faster on their project.

* * *

The night drifted by. Popo slept soundly in his bed, dreaming about him completely humiliating Mario on the Summit stage. Nana wasn't by his side, supporting and helping him like always, which made him feel weaker, even though he could still feel the taste of victory as he made the red capped plumber fly off of the stage.

Maybe it was the fact that if she was by his side, the two could throw Mario off stage much more effectively. He really didn't know what that empty feeling was.

**GAME! The winner is…**

Knock! Knock!

"Hey, Popo!" whispered a familiar voice. "Please, please wake up! I don't want to sleep in the corridor."

Popo shifted his eyes before opening them completely. What the hell was she doing there? "Coming… Coming…" he muttered grumpily as he got out of his bed. Still sleepy and dazed, he went to the door practically dragging his feet.

"Nana…?"

His sleepy eyes suddenly opened at his sister's sight. Nana was way too groomed for a good night of sleep. Her cheeks were rosier, the eyelashes looked fuller and bigger and her lips were red and glossy. Her hair was braided and looked rather nice on her.

"Did you just go to a girl's meeting or to a beauty salon?" he asked.

"Just did a favor to Peach and Zelda and let them do this to me," she lowered her eyes and blushed. "What do you think?"

"Gross, you look horrible!" he chuckled. "No, seriously, you look pretty. You could groom yourself more often, you know?"

"Like I have some sense for this," Nana rolled her eyes.

"So… Why are you here?"

"Forgot my key… I'm locked outside my own room," she said, ashamed. "Can I sleep with you just for this night? I promise I'll try to recover my keys later."

Bedroom doors in the Mansion functioned like hotel rooms in a way. They locked automatically once closed, and it was not uncommon for Smashers to accidentally lock themselves outside their rooms. It was no surprise that nobody liked that lock system except for Master Hand himself.

Popo frowned. "Nana, if Master Hand discovers this, he'll skin us alive. You know he doesn't like when a Smasher breaks the rules," he crossed his arms. "Besides, couldn't you ask Zelda to stay in her room?"

"I didn't want to bother her. When I realized I forgot my key she was already asleep."

"Oh, so you woke ME up because you didn't want to bother HER?"

"Pretty much," she said, not even looking remotely guilty of it. "But please, let me in! I promise to take all the blame if Master Hand gets us!"

He looked to both sides of the corridor. Seeing that no one was passing by, he made a gesture for her to enter. With a huge grin, Nana stepped in.

"I don't see anything of manly in here," she commented, looking around.

"Just wait and a couple of days you won't even recognize this place." he replied as he closed the door.

"Yeah, right…" she snorted.

"Now go get some sleep. Even though we can wake up till late tomorrow, it's not wise to wake after everyone. At least, not in your situation."

"Okay, okay, fine. I'm just going to try to wash this make-up off my face first," she said heading towards de bathroom.

"No, wait, don't do it. You'll go back to being the ugly duckling from before," Popo said jokingly.

Nana slammed the door loud enough to make the blue Ice Climber wince. Okay, he would stop the jokes about his sister's face. But really, would it be that hard for her to be a little more feminine? While he waited her to finish her business, he suddenly realized something important.

"Where will she sleep?"

Before he could come up with a solution, Nana has already come out of the bathroom, her face cleaner, yet with smithereens of the eye pencil still present.

"You know, I think I'll braid my hair more often."

"You should. It makes you girlier."

"Why this sudden interest in seeing me act more feminine?" Nana asked raising an eyebrow.

"So then you can be different from me, of course," he said sarcastically while sitting on his bed with crossed legs. "So you can be your own character."

Nana rolled her eyes and sat on a chair, her arms crossed over it. "Seriously, what the hell was up with that speech of Master Hand? Nobody had a problem with us fighting together before."

"Maybe they only complained about it behind our backs," Popo hypothesized. "Who can blame them for feeling threatened? We were pretty awesome back in Brawl."

"Damn right we were! Second place, only losing to Meta Knight!" she said filled with pride. "But it's still not fair. I've been talking to the girls, and one of them, Rosalina, is going to battle alongside Luma!"

"How was the meeting, by the way?"

"It was fine; they are fun to be around. But like I said, Rosalina is going to battle with her star friend, child, whatever. Not to mention Olimar can also use his Pikmin. So why can't we-"

"To be fair, can you imagine Luma or the Pikmins fighting alone?"

"Still…"

And so they went on and on. What were once just complaints about their situation, it didn't take long for the conversation to take other routes. The night passed by and none of the Ice Climbers slept.

* * *

_The first thing any ordinary person would feel when entering that place would be fear. Purple and black clouds swirled in the tainted sky, giving the atmosphere a feeling of despair. The land showed no signs of vegetation, or even an earthy soil, as the ground was made of an unknown type of black bluish rock. The only living beings that were at sight were weird, abnormal creatures who clumsily dragged themselves here and there, without showing any interaction whatsoever between them. Sometimes some red eyed birds with a sharp beak and rainbow colored wings would appear flying in the turbulent sky, prepared to dive into anyone they would consider an intruder; and that was exactly what one bird did as it saw a suspicious figure walking bellow. The man; however, was already aware and dodged the attack right in time, leaving the stupid creature with its beak stuck on the ground._

_"It's-a no wonder why they are so useless," the fat man snarled as he grabbed the stiff body of the Auroros and threw it away with such strength that made the bird disintegrate in numerous purple particles._

_He continued his journey through the almost desolated land, until he reached a purple door with a pale blue aura surrounding it. The man pushed in and entered with a confident and mischievous grin stamped on his mustached face. He walked until he reached the end of a cliff and kneed down as a massive quantity of light blue fog appeared in the empty space ahead of him. As he did that, the fog started to "shrink" and form the silhouette of a human. It didn't have a face, nor showed if it was a man or a woman, but it was the distorted outline of a human, that the man was sure._

_"Finally you are here, Wario…" the fog said, its voice sounding like the hiss of a snake. "Did you find what have I asked for?"_

_"Yeah, yeah," he took out a shiny and colorful orb from the pocket of his jacket. "Searching for it wasn't that hard. Now the reason why you needed this Smashball, or why I needed to get it on the Ruined Hall instead of the Mansion, I don't-a really understand. But as long as I'm paid, I don't-a care."_

_The fog outstretched its non-solid arm and, like by magic, the Smashball floated to its hand. Even though it had no face, Wario could swear that his new boss was looking to the orb with lust and desire. Why all that drama? Hadn't it seen one before? Wario had seen a Smashball so many times during his fights in Brawl that he treated the rainbow colored sphere just like any ordinary item. A powerful one__,__ maybe, but still ordinary. However, he couldn't deny that that Smashball in particular felt different in some way. He couldn't describe what that feeling was. It just felt different._

_"So, what are you going to do with this-a thing?" he asked._

_"None of your business," the fog replied coldly._

_"Wah, just asking," Wario lifted his hands in defense. "By the way, when am I going to get-a paid?"_

_"Soon… I'll call you when I need you again. You are dismissed now."_

_Wario shrugged and left the room with a frown in his face. He didn't mind doing senseless jobs, but he did mind whenever he got paid or not, so it was better for his "master" to pay him soon, or else. The fat plumber took a badge out from another pocket of his jeans jacket, tapped it three times and, concentrating as hard as he could, teleported himself away from Subspace and headed straight back to the Mansion__._

* * *

**I'm sorry tfor this chapter feeling more like a filler than anything. I just really liked to write about the girl's meeting, what can I say? Though it was important to establish their characters. Also, Wario is still is a villain after all this time. I just can see him valuing money above everything else. Money is his only moral. The only difference is that he is still participating in the new tournament, instead of being left out it like in the original story.**


	3. An ominous aura

It was only when the first rays of sunlight hit the window that the Ice Climbers realized they had passed the rest of the night talking. They both sighed in unison.

"It's already morning! I can't believe I let you do this to me," Popo said, his eyes starting to itch.

"_I _did this to you? If you wanted to sleep, you should have said so. Besides, at least you didn't spend the entire night awake like me," Nana yawned.

Of course he wouldn't sleep without making sure his sister didn't sleep on the floor. He got out of his bed and stretched his back, trying to shake his tiredness away. Popo could also open the window and let some fresh air in, but he was feeling too lazy to do that. If only he had slept more, he wouldn't be feeling like trash right now.

"Anyway, you think it is okay to leave?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your keys, remember? You need to get them back?" he said, his tone voice sounding like he was talking to a five year old.

"Oh, yeah…" Nana got out from the chair. "Right…"

"How are you going to retrieve them anyway?"

"I think Master Hand might have a copy of each room's keys in his office," she gave another yawn. "I just need to sneak in there, snatch it, unlock my room and return the copy before he notices that it was ever gone."

"Brilliant plan, sis." he replied sarcastically.

"And you got something better?" Nana asked annoyed.

"Just ask him for a spare key, maybe?"

Oh… that made more sense. She could just say she went to get a cup of water and that she forgot her keys. Nana headed to the door, with Popo following suit. For the first time that morning, she gave a warm and grateful smile to him. "Thanks for letting me in," she said as she opened the door.

"No problem. Just don't lock yourself outside your room next time."

She gave a thumbs up and left. Popo retired to his bed, all the tiredness he didn't feel when talking to Nana before suddenly hitting him all at once. Maybe he could sleep three more hours. Despite his complaints, talking to her sure made him feel better. Not to mention that, thanks to Nana, he discovered that that girl's meeting sounded a lot less interesting than he expected.

He wouldn't mind her visiting his room again after all.

* * *

An explosion of aromas burst into the blonde's nose as he entered in the kitchen, making Lucas' mouth almost drool. Bows filled with a great variety of fruits could be seen arranged on one of the tables, while there was a delicious smell of cake being baked in the oven. On another table, there were many types of breads and sweets, perfectly set on baskets, which kept a nice balance between the fruits' strong colors and their soft shade of beige and brown.

He had woken up very early, just a little after the sunrise, due to some pretty horrifying nightmares he had. It was only natural for him to get hungry and impatient for the brunch to start. Since it was too early for the special event Master Hand had planned for that morning and afternoon, Lucas decided to snatch something in the kitchen without his host noticing.

"Just one won't make a difference," he thought as he approached the table with the fruits.

"Poyo, what'chu doing?" squeaked a familiar voice.

Lucas jumped in surprise as he saw Kirby on the only empty table (there were over three in the kitchen), devouring a one meter sandwich. Looks like he wasn't the only one who got hungry, only unlike him, the pink puffball was always hungry.

"Hi, Kirby. I just got hungry after not sleeping very well," he replied after recovering from the startle.

"Poyo, me too! Nightmares always make me hungry, poyo." Kirby finished swallowing the food, without even bothering on chewing.

The psychic boy gave a sympathetic smile and went to sit by his side. It didn't matter how many years passed, Kirby remained unchanged, with his round and pink self, and those big innocent blue eyes. Even though he was a star warrior, he was still an eternal child. And honestly, Lucas couldn't imagine him different.

"What did you dream of, Lucas?" the pink puffball asked.

"I can't really remember it very well. I just remember me being chased by some sort of monster," Lucas paused to yawn and then continued: "And you? You mentioned that you also had a nightmare."

"Oh, yeah. Poyo, the nightmare…" Kirby shivered. "It was so scary! Poyo, you have no idea!"

"Want to tell me?"

"Poyo, I saw a burned land in my dreams. There were no plants or animals. Just an empty land with a red sky, poyo."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a desert?" Lucas asked.

"Poyo, no! Not a desert! It was Smashville. I saw the houses all broken… a-and dead people… dead people on the floor. S-Some alloys we-were dead too," some tears rolled down his rosy cheeks.

Lucas raised an eyebrow at such odd nightmare. It wasn't usual of the star warrior to have nightmares, especially nightmares that made him cry. Something wasn't right, he knew that. As a resident of Dreamland, Kirby was protected from bad dreams; at least, that was what Meta Knight once told him. Lucas remembered him mentioning that it was because of a mystic fountain in the puffball's home land. If Kirby was having nightmares, it was because something was wrong with the fountain.

He would later talk about that with DeDeDe. After all, he was the self-proclaimed king of Dreamland. So it was his job to…

"Waaaaaah! It was scary!" Kirby outburst in tears, which made Lucas' mind return to reality.

The psychic boy patted his round back and, seeing that it wasn't going to help the child to stop crying, went to the near wardrobe and took out a jar of chocolate cookies. Kirby's tearing eyes instantly gleamed with joy as they saw the container in his hands.

"See if this helps you to forget the bad dream," Lucas said sympathetic.

"Poyo, poyo! Gimme!"

The puffball grabbed the jar and was about to swallow it entirely when he heard his friend's stomach grumbling. Giving a childish laugh, he offered five cookies to Lucas, who accept it gratefully, and then swallowed the whole jar.

"Don't forget to spill out the jar when you finish it, okay?"

Kirby nodded with his cheeks full and Lucas left the kitchen with a more or less satisfied stomach. He walked through the empty mansion, enjoying the nice clarity and warmth of the morning lights coming through the big windows by his side. As he was about to turn the corner, the young boy's blue eyes spotted a certain brunette wearing pink pajamas quickly retrieving to her room.

"I didn't expect to see you up so early, Nana," he commented.

"Lucas!" her voice squeaked in surprise. Nana turned around only to see a very confused Lucas standing in the corridor. Where did he come from?

"Uh, yes? Why are you so surprised?" he asked walking closer.

"It's just that it was everything so quiet and then you suddenly broke the silence. You scared me."

"Sorry about that, I know that feeling very well," the boy sighed. How many times hasn't Ness done the same thing to him too? Only when he did it, it was always intentionally.

"So I guess I'll be going back to my room now. Later!"

She was prepared to leave when a sudden curiosity hit her. "What are you doing here, anyway? You also don't like waking up super early."

"Couldn't sleep after having a nightmare. They happen once in a while, so I'm not even surprised."

"Oh… that sucks."

Nana wanted to continue talking since Lucas was really one of the Smashers she most got along, but the urge to go back to her room was bigger. She quickly made up an excuse and left. Granted, that wasn't the most convincing one, but Lucas also wasn't known for being a good liar detector anyway. With the spare key in hand, she unlocked her room and belly flopped on her bed.

Her eyes fluttered, almost shutting down. Maybe she could sleep three more hours…

Click.

"What was that?"

A loud noise coming from her doorknob suddenly snapped her out from her trance. It sounded like someone was trying to get in. Though who could possibly be, Nana had no idea. Silently cursing whoever thought it was a good idea to knock on her door at this time in the morning, she went to answer whoever was outside.

"Yeah?" she groaned as she opened the door.

But there was not a single soul outside. She checked both sides of the corridor and could swear she saw a shadow turning around the corner, but she was too tired to even guess who could possibly be.

"Douche," Nana muttered under her breath.

She closed the door and went back to her bed, not even bothering in returning the spare keys she got from Master Hand's office.

* * *

It was about 13:00 PM when the yard's atmosphere began to be filled with the buzz-buzz of conversation of the Smashers. A large table with all kind of delicious food was set near the huge brick fence and being visited often, especially by Yoshi and Kirby. Some smaller tables covered with fancy towels were spread all around the place, almost all of them containing already dirty plates. The music was suave and gave a calm feeling, although that wasn't enough to calm down the excited conversation.

On one table, Popo and Nana leaned over some sheets of paper, sketching some ideas for their separate move sets. They seemed pretty stressed with that, but nobody noticed that much. Peach was chatting with prince Marth, while Bowser and Ike were having an arm fight to see who got stronger. Everyone was interacting with everyone, like they were a huge family.

Everyone except for Pit, who left the party for a few moments for a nice walk to stretch his legs and wings. The brunette angel was very sociable and liked parties, but that morning in special he felt like having some time for him. Of course, sooner or later he would have to return, but for that moment, he was just enjoying the refreshing wind that stroked gently his face.

"Just a few minutes and then back to the food." he thought.

He continued walking, until he saw a blue spot near a pond. Curious, Pit got closer to take a better look and saw none other than Lucario, meditating. The angel tip toed to where the Pokémon was, unsure if he should talk to him or just observe him without taking his concentration away.

"_Hello Pit_," Lucario said serenely, without turning around. "_There's no need to worry. I wasn't planning on staying here for a long time_."

"Oh, hi Lucario! Say, why aren't you having brunch? Everyone is there."

"_For the same reason as you are here now. I wanted some time for myself._"

"I… was planning on returning after a few minutes." Pit said defensively.

"_Hmm…_" Lucario closed his eyes.

They went silent, none of them knew what to say; or at least, Pit didn't know what to say. For him, Lucario was almost like a closed book and it was hard to say whenever he was in a good mood to talk or he wanted be left alone. The sound of leafs rusting against each other was what saved that place from falling in total silence.

"So… I guess I'll be going back now," Pit broke the silence. "I'll see you later."

"_Do you feel it?_" the Pokémon asked, suddenly snapping his amber eyes open and making Pit stop on his tracks.

"Do I feel what?"

"_There's a dark aura nearby. I don't know from where it exactly comes from, but I can feel it._"

"Do you think there's someone we don't know in the mansion?" Pit raised an eyebrow.

"_This aura… doesn't come from a person. It comes from something much more powerful, much more evil. I think I have already felt something similar… in the Subspace Incident._" his voice sounded a little worried.

That sure caught Pit by surprise. "But how is this possible? We defeated Tabuu years ago. We saw him exploding and his world disappearing with him. There's no way Subspace should still exist!" he said.

"_Perhaps it is not Subspace, but whatever this aura is__,__ it sure is as powerful as Tabuu,_" Lucario shook his head and turned to Pit. "_I am not sure if it's a threat to us or not, but we need to watch out._"

"Wait! Where exactly is the source of this aura?"

"_Somewhere in the outskirts of Smashville, but I don't know the exact location. This is very confusing. I can't see the aura, like I normally do, but I can feel it. It is more of a bad sensation that something obscure is happening there,_" Lucario answered. "_Master Hand really needs to know about this._"

Pit nodded and the two ran as fast as they could back into the mansion. Since he couldn't fly by himself with those wings of his, Pit made up for speed and could easily keep up with Lucario.

"And I thought I would have some peace before the tournament…" the angel thought bitterly.

Back at the brunch, Popo and Nana were still having problems with coming up with a move set. They had some sketches, but most of them seemed to not be good enough. Lucas came to help them not too long ago, but even he was having some difficulty.

"Popo, it's not fair!" Nana whined after throwing yet another lump of paper in the bin. "You tricked me into getting the Belay Rope as a recovery move. Now I need to come up with two moves since the Belay Rope is useless without one of us!"

"You should have thought about that before accepting. At least you got the Squall Hammer and already decided one of your new moves, the Slippery Floor." Popo shrugged.

"So what? You got the projectile, Blizzard AND the Ice Hammer" she put her chin on her hand.

"How about throwing ice darts as a projectile?" Lucas suggested and then took a bite on his sandwich. "You know, like that new Pokémon Greninja. His water shurikens are cool!"

"Yeah, but I'm not a ninja… or a Pokémon."

The three got silent for a while, each one immersed in their own thoughts. They stood like that for a good couple of minutes until Lucas said:

"You know, I don't see why you can't share at least two special moves. You are already differing with Squall Hammer, Ice Hammer, Blizzard and Slippery Floor. You have more changes in your move sets than me and Ness, at least."

There was synchronized "click" on the twins mind. Wasn't he right? They already had the essential to not be considered clones of each other; they didn't need to keep making changes. They were less similar to each other in move set than Ness and Lucas, or Link and Toon Link. They were already being separated from each other in the battles; at least the same two special moves would give some sort of feeling of a connection between them, which made the Ice Climbers feel satisfied inside.

"Maybe we could share the same projectile and recovery…" Popo turned to Nana. "What do you think?"

"Lucas, you're a genius! Now we only need to think of a recovery for us."

"Deciding recovery had always been tricky," the blonde haired finished eating his sandwich. "I'm sorry that the Belay Rope can't help."

By that moment, Ness has joined the table, since watching the what-seemed-to-be-eternal dispute between Bowser and Ike got boring to him. He ate the cheesy bread that was on his hand and cleared his throat.

"Hey, why try to think up with a super original move, if you can get the idea of another recovery move and give your personality to it?" the brunette asked.

The three turned to him, interested on what he had in mind. Ness gave his usual mischievous smile.

"Why, isn't it obvious? If you're having problems, just "copy and paste". That's what Falco did with Fox," Ness said. "Or like Lucas did with my PK Thunder, only he didn't even try to make it sound original."

"Hey!"

"It's true. Just get the bare bones of a recovery you think it's cool, add "ice" to it, and you'll have your move," Ness snapped his fingers. "Easy like that."

"Ness, you're another genius!" Nana exclaimed happily and then turned to Popo. "What do you think?"

"Will you call me a genius if I say?" he replied cynically.

"Depends on what you answer."

He stopped to think for a second and said: "I always liked Fox's recovery."

"Nope, didn't like it. You're officially a dumbass!" Nana said playfully but then got back to being serious. "Don't get me wrong, it is a good move, but the problem is that Falco and Wolf's recoveries are exactly the same. Not to mention, Lucario's also comes pretty close to it too, like Ness said. We need to get something that wasn't copied that much."

"How about something similar to Pit then? Since we don't have wings, we can call upon one of those orange condors to lift us up."

"Sounds alright to me if you ask," Lucas said.

"And the bird can even do some damage if the opponent is near," Ness added.

"Alright, you're a genius now." she said ruffling his hair, just like he would constantly do with her, much to the other's annoyance.

"Awww, your lovely brother-sister moment just makes me sick!" the full-time veteran snickered.

"Oh, shut it you!"

"So it's decided. The moves are…"

Lucas was cut off by a speeding Lucario and Pit, both heading towards the Smash Mansion. The four Smashers looked at them dumbfounded, as well as the rest of the people that were near their way.

"Wow…" Ness said, more to himself than to anyone else. "Where's the fire?"

* * *

"And you believe that this thing can be threat to us?" Master Hand asked after hearing what Lucario so urgently needed to say.

"_I don't know. Even though it has a negative energy, I can't quite see if it's planning on doing any harm to us_." the Pokémon answered.

Master Hand tapped his fingers on his office desk, reflecting on the situation. He knew it couldn't be Subspace, since Tabuu didn't exist anymore. What was that aura Lucario felt?

"So what do you think we should do?" Pit asked.

"For now, nothing. It is as Lucario said, we don't know what this thing is," Master Hand sighed. "I'll send some Alloys to the outskirts of Smashville to investigate this case; I don't want to put you or the rest of the Smashers at risk. If this, whatever it is, show any harm to them, then we'll spring into action."

"Don't you think it's cruel to use the Alloys as guinea pigs?" the angel asked uneasy.

As a commander of an army, Pit didn't find it right to send a soldier of a lower level to risky missions just to see what would be the consequences. Every life was valuable for him, including the Alloys.

"Don't worry about them Pit," Master Hand floated to the door and opened it. "The Alloys are just like dolls. If they break, we just replace them."

Pit frowned slightly at how cold-hearted Master Hand was being with the Alloys, but didn't say anything. Agreeing or not with him, the white hand was his superior, and he had the power to kick him out whenever he felt like.

"Now go back to the brunch. Judging by the way you entered here in such a rush, I bet that the smashers outside might be curious about all that hurry."

The two Smashers left the office and headed towards the backyard, where the brunch was starting to show that it was ending. Most of the food had already been eaten, the left-over were only the ones nobody actually enjoyed eating. Lucario walked to the table where Greninja and Charizard seemed to have a heated discussion over Arceus knows what, while Pit went to sit by the table Palutena was seated.

"So what was that running at the speed of light all about?" the goddess asked pulling a chair to him.

"C'mon, I wasn't going that fast," Pit said, slumping over the chair.

"Maybe you weren't, but you sure looked desperate. Seriously, what happened? And don't say it wasn't anything, because Lucario was involved in this too."

Pit sighed heavily. If it was with any other person there, he would make up a white lie and say it was nothing, to spare him problems and questioning from the other Smashers. But there was no way he could lie to Lady Palutena, even if he wanted to.

"Lucario thinks that there's an evil presence near the Mansion. Or was it near Smashville?" he stopped to think for a second and then continued, "And that this thing has an aura as powerful as Subspace. We went to talk about this with Master Hand and that's why we were in such a hurry."

A heavy silence fell between the two as Palutena tried to digest what she had just heard. There was no way Subspace could be back! She herself saw it be destroyed, from her home in Skyworld. Despite not actively acting in the incident, Palutena accompanied Pit and the rest of the Smashers' quest to get rid of the horrible dimension that threated to swallow this world.

However, if there was one thing she has learned from these years was that you should never take your enemy's downfall for granted. She could still remember the days where she thought Medusa, the Queen of the Underworld, was taken down and would stay dead, only for her to re-appear twenty five years later, stronger than ever. Was Lucario telling the truth?

"That… sure sounds worrisome," she said, being careful to not sound skeptical, but not wanting to sound like she fully believes in the story. "What did Master Hand say about this?"

"He said that for now, we shouldn't do anything. That he would send some Alloys to go investigate," the angel said the last part bitterly.

"I'm surprised he doesn't feel guilty for using the Alloys as guinea pigs."

"My thoughts exactly!"

The two felt silent again, both thinking about the situation. Should they go assist the Alloys, or let them take care of that themselves and concentrate on training for the upcoming tournament? The latter sounded the more logical, sure, but those Alloys weren't the most intelligent bunch. Surely they would need some assistance, right?

"Lady Palutena?" Pit asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, Pit?"

"You think the Alloys will be fine?"

"If this evil force isn't real, they'll be fine alright. But…" she hesitated.

That "but" was already the sufficient for Pit.

"Think I can make it to the outskirts by flying in five minutes?"

"Five minutes is more than enough."

* * *

**Red was originally supposed to appear in this chapter, but with only Charizard being confirmed for the new game, I have no idea if I should include him or not. You know, considering that the chances of him not being confirmed are pretty damn high. I'm avoiding mentioning characters that are not confirmed for reasons I'm not going to explain now.**

**The Ice Climbers, wherever they are confirmed or not, are still the protagonists; while Lucas and Ness are also more prominent characters in this story (not to mention Ness, being part of the Original Twelve, will be included, so his spot is pretty much saved). So that's why they are the exception to this rule. **

**Reviews are appreciated.**


	4. Something just isn't right

As the days passed by, everyone already knew about the dark aura Lucario felt, but since the Pokémon couldn't give the exact coordinates, the Alloys spent days and days searching for the invisible force and never returned. Even Pit and Palutena had a hard time finding any sort of suspicious activity in the region, since everything seemed normal. Since nothing happened, nor anything that could be considered a threat showed up, most part of the Smashers quickly forgot about that and centered more on their trainings and their own lives.

But Lucario wasn't convinced. Something wasn't right, he knew that. Every day he would go to that same spot to meditate and concentrate. Every day he felt that strange energy emanating and every day he couldn't pin point exactly from where it came from. Sometimes it would appear, sometimes it wouldn't. Lucario had no idea how something as powerful as that aura could simply appear and then disappear like thin air, but somehow it did just that.

None of the Smashers had the guts to tell him to stop, be it because they've felt sorry for him, or because they had better things to do than to just try to talk a Pokémon, who clearly has lost his senses, out of that idea that Subspace was still present.

"What do you think Lucario's problem is?" Nana asked one night, while surfing the TV channels.

"Maybe his aura powers are having problems, who knows?" Popo said, seated by her side on the floor.

It was three in the morning when Popo thought that it was an excellent hour to go visit Nana in her room. Visits like those happened every couple of days, with the siblings changing the room they visited. One time it would be Nana visiting Popo and the other it would be Popo visiting Nana. It was almost like a silent deal between the two.

That night it was Popo who decided to visit Nana. The two really didn't have much to talk about and stayed silent most of the time, but they still enjoyed each other's company while they watched television nonetheless. Staying together calmed their nerves, especially because the new Super Smash Bros tournament would begin in three days. The two still couldn't get over the fact that they would one day fight against each other. In previous tournaments, the two couldn't even stand having to fight alone for too long. They just dealt with it because they needed to, especially if the two were down to only one life.

"You think he's okay then to participate in the tournament?" she asked, concerned for Lucario.

"If Master Hand had a problem with it, he would have kicked him out, right?" Popo said getting up and heading to the door. "Besides, if that's the case, and I know that what I'm about to say is super mean, but at least it is one opponent less to worry."

"Wow, Popo, just… wow!"

"Don't tell me you didn't think about this too!"

"At least I don't go around saying it!" she then turned to him. "What? You going already?"

Popo chuckled and pointed to the clock beside her bed. "Already? It's 5:00 AM. I need to sleep a little too, you know?"

Nana got up in a jolt. Oh crap, she didn't realize it was that late.

"What are you waiting for, then! Go to sleep! We've promised we would train with Ness and Mega Man tomorrow early."

"Don't you mean today?"

"It only counts as "today" when I wake up. Now go and don't forget your keys," she said pushing him.

Popo showed his keys on his hand and left the room. The first few times he visited Nana, he would always get cautious to not get caught returning to his room and so walked as slowly and silently as possible. Now he just walked normally, knowing that the mansion really does get empty at night and that the chances of him being caught were slimmer than him being hit by a lightning bolt.

Not counting Pikachu's lightning bolt in battle, that is.

He walked through the silent corridors with ease and, thanks to the silver light of the full moon outside and the mansion's numerous windows, he could guide himself without fearing of bumping into something. On his way to his room, he suddenly spotted a pink puffball leaving his room as silently as possible. Well, what were the chances? Being careful to not startle him, Popo approached him as delicately as possible.

"Leaving your room at this time of the night? Tsk tsk," he whispered.

Despite all of this, Kirby still jumped in surprise, but at least he didn't scream. Then they'd be in real trouble.

"Poyo, don't scare me like this!" he whispered, trying to contain his heart attack.

"It wasn't my intention, sorry," Popo apologized.

"Poyo, poyo! Don't do something like this again! Poyo, I don't like it!" Kirby said in the verge of tears.

Normally, Popo would just call him a big baby and say that it wasn't that bad, but Kirby seemed genuinely distressed. His breathing was short and his eyes were flooding with water.

"H-Hey, what's up with you? Are you alright?"

"Poyo, I… I just w-want nightmares to stop!" Kirby sobbed.

The Ice Climber sighed in relief. It was just a stupid nightmare, nothing serious.

"Want to go get something in the kitchen to make you feel better?" that was all he could think of to make his friend stop crying.

"Poyo, yeah…" he sniffed. The thought of food always cheered him a little bit.

The two went to the kitchen to prepare Kirby a light snack. The snack consisted of 1/3 of the fridge, which made Popo deeply regret ever offering food to the little guy. Suddenly he remembered why Kirby was always kept away from the kitchen.

But there was nothing else he could do to make Kirby stop crying, so he guessed Master Hand would have to deal with that.

"Say, Kirby," Popo said with a hand supporting his chin as he watched Kirby finish his meal. "What did you dream of that made you cry? Must have been pretty bad."

"Poyo, the problem is not that it was scary. Okay, poyo, that too, but it is the same stuff every night."

"So you've been having recurring nightmares, uh? You stressed or something? I mean, usually recurring nightmares are because of…"

"Poyo, no! It isn't stress! I shouldn't have bad dreams in the first place, poyo."

Kirby explained that, as a resident of Dreamland, he was protected from all bad dreams, thanks to a powerful purifier fountain called the Fountain of Dreams. The first time Kirby had the nightmare, he and Lucas went to talk to DeDeDe about the puffball's nightmare. DeDeDe said it was impossible for Kirby to be having nightmares, because the Fountain of Dreams was working as usual and showed no signs of corruption. To prove that that was true, the self-proclaimed king affirmed that he wasn't suffering from any negative dreams. For the king, Kirby was just making excuses to wake up in the middle of the night and make some snack.

"The part of you making snacks is kind of true," Popo commented after hearing all of that.

"Poyo, this is serious!"

"I know, I know," he raised his hands defensively. "But I don't know how to help you with that, I'm really sorry."

"Do you believe in me, at least?" Kirby asked.

"Sure. I mean, it's not like you need to lie to get food anyway."

"Ha ha, true!" Kirby then jumped off from the table, ready to return to his room. "Poyo, I'll try to talk to Master Hand. He is smart."

Popo accompanied Kirby to his room, just so the puffball would feel better. Not to mention Kirby's room was located in the same corridor as his own, so Popo wasn't even getting out of his way to make sure his friend didn't break down in tears as he went back to bed. He was sure Master Hand would be of more help than him. Once they've reached Kirby's room he said his goodbyes to the puffball and left.

The Ice Climber was about to return to his room when a sudden shiver on his spine made him stop. He had no idea where it came from, nor what made it happen, but he could feel something wrong in the air. Popo stayed still in the middle of the corridor for a good couple of minutes, looking around him as if searching for what could be giving that terrible sensation. Only the sound of his anxious breath could be heard.

Unfortunately, it was too dark to see anything clearly, and whatever could be causing that spine chilling sensation could easily be hiding in the shadows and he wouldn't even notice.

"Uh?"

Popo could swear he saw a shadow sneak by him, but whatever it was, it vanished as soon as it appeared. Could his mind be playing tricks on him? He was so tired and it was so dark and silent, so it kind of made sense. But what was that bad sensation he had a few seconds ago?

Tricks or not, he quickly retrieved to his room, wanting to go under the covers of his bed as soon as possible.

* * *

Pit flew by the trees, the chilly breeze of the morning blowing the sleepiness off from his face. The ground below him was still covered in the fog from last night, which made it more difficult for him to see what was going on. Not that he needed to worry that much about this, as Lady Palutena, who was controlling his flight path from her room in the Mansion, was already doing the fine job of observing what was going on.

"Lady Palutena, I know that it is important to find the missing Alloys," Pit got interrupted by a sudden sneeze. "But couldn't we have done this in another time of the day? Maybe noon? It's so cold now that I think I might catch a… well… cold."

"Sorry Pit, but noon is out of question. You know as well as I that we need to do this before everyone in the Mansion wakes up," Palutena answered with a sheepish smile.

He gave a sigh and continued flying, knowing that he couldn't turn around anymore. Ever since the day the Alloys went to investigate the mysterious force Lucario had warned about, flying to the outskirts of Smashville had become a routine to him. Every morning, right when the sun was rising, Pit would leave the mansion to investigate where the missing of the Alloys went, with Palutena observing everything that happened from a mirror. Meanwhile, the two would communicate telepathically, just like they would do back in their world.

"If only Lucario could specify more… A simple "at the outskirts of Smashville, in the east" would have helped a lot more," he thought.

Despite his complaining, Pit had to admit that at least it was a beautiful morning, with a sunrise giving the land covered in fog a faint golden glow. He would enjoy the scenery much more if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to concentrate on his mission. That and that it was super cold, so not even the most beautiful of sceneries could make up for that.

"How much time to I still have?" he asked.

"Just one more minute and we're good to go for today. And don't worry, I have a cup of hot chocolate here, waiting for you when you come back," she said, trying to make the angel feel better.

"Alright!"

Pit made a sharp turn to the left, half disappointed that today had no results as usual, but also half relieved that he would be returning. However, had he not done that, he would have spotted the lonely blue Alloy wandering around the vegetation. As soon as she saw the familiar angel turn to the opposite direction from where she was, she tried to shout. The Alloy desperately wanted shout for him to turn back and make her go back home, but she didn't have a voice to do that. Desperate to call for her only chance of surviving, she waved her metallic blue arms frantically with no avail. The angel was already gone.

Disappointed and frustrated, the Zelda clone sat beneath a tree and hugged her legs. She had been wandering alone through the forest since her group got attacked by the Primids days ago, after them discovering a portal not that far away from the city. All of her partners had been destroyed or taken away, only to possibly be destroyed later. She managed to escape somehow. And now all that she wanted, with that limited intelligence of hers and obedient mind, was to be able to return to the mansion and report that Subspace has, indeed, returned. She didn't mind her current situation; she just wanted to complete her mission.

She just wanted…

_ZAP!_

The Alloy fell cold and steady on the soft ground. Getting out from the shadows, two Primids armed with lasers appeared, their bloody red eyes staring at the dead body of the last remaining Alloy.

Mission complete.

* * *

Just a little after breakfast time was over, Ness, Mega Man and the Ice Climbers went to practice a free-for-all battle at the Lumiose City stage. This new stage had a joyful atmosphere, with a main platform floating around the city, just occasionally stopping at certain spots. It was also very distracting, with flashy lights and abundance of buildings in the background. Stages like those were usually created to test the concentration of the fighters.

Or so everyone in the mansion thought. Stages like those could be a case of bad design, but nobody wanted to think the Hand brothers were terrible at stage building.

Ness' psychic attacks seemed to have gotten stronger, or at the very least, more difficult to avoid. He seemed more in sync in his fighting style than he was in Brawl, and had sent at least all of the Smashers battling there flying off the stage at least once. As expected from a full-time veteran. Mega Man also seemed to be proving a valuable fighter, with his wide variety of projectile attack and decent melee skills. His joy of finally having become a Smasher also lifted his fighting spirit up, so he was doing his best on becoming a worthy opponent for everyone there.

Now for the Ice Climbers, battling was a little more complicated. Not because of the stage, Ness' attacks or Mega Man's projectiles, but because they were having problems hitting each other. Sure they liked competitions between them… but not in that way. They just weren't used to hurting one another. They fought together, or even separated if it was really necessary, but NEVER against each other. If the siblings wanted to see how they could handle this type of battle, then that was their answer.

Seeing the way they "accidentally" missed most of their attacks, Ness simply stopped fighting and sat on the floor. Noticing that, the other three Smashers also stopped battling and looked at him, confused.

"Ness, what are you doing?" Popo asked.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me what are you doing?" Ness replied with another question directed at the Ice Climbers.

"What are you talking about?" Nana tilted her head to the side in confusion.

Ness shook his head. "Look, do you even know what "free-for-all" means?"

"It means-"

"Rock, dude, I wasn't asking you."

"O-Oh, sorry…" Mega Man said while backing off from the very irritated psychic.

"Listen; I'm tired of you fighting only me and Rock," Ness said turning to Popo and Nana again. "You are battling in the same way you fought in Brawl. This is practically 'Two versus One versus One', if you know what I mean!"

"Ness is kind of right. This battle does seem unfair…" Mega Man said, awkwardly sitting on the floor also.

"Oh, come on! We are not-"

"If you're not, then prove it," Ness said with a smirk, cutting Nana off.

Popo and Nana looked uneasy at each other. "O-Okay…" they stammered in unison.

Nana ran and swung her wooden hammer to hit Popo in the stomach. The swing; however, was slow and gave time for him to dodge it. Right after that, he tried attacking her with Blizzard. But the attack was considerably weak and didn't do a lot of damage. The two boys shook their heads as the shameful fight continued. The Ice Climbers knew how to fight way better than that. Ness could recall the battles he had with them back in Brawl and Melee. Oh, they knew how to do better than that just fine.

"So these are the Smashers who got second place in the last tournament?" Mega Man asked confused.

"They are better than this, trust me," the veteran answered and then proceeded to taunt them. "Hey, slowpokes! Have you two gone worse or something? Even Pichu would have an easy time battling you two!"

Popo stopped everything he was doing to protest. However, he forgot that while Nana's hammer was moving slower it still would hurt if he got hit in the head. So it came to no surprise that when he got distracted by Ness' comment he accidentally got knocked to the ground by his sister. Nana dropped her hammer as soon as she realized what she had done, while Ness couldn't stop laughing at the blue Ice Climber's disgrace. Mega Man tried to hide his amusement in respect for his fellow Smasher, but he too couldn't help it and let out a chuckle.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Popo," she said examining his head. "You okay?"

"I've had a lot worse," he said gently shaking her hand off and getting on his feet. "But thanks for worrying…"

Ness sighed exasperatedly and got up. It's almost like they have never done this before! "Are you serious?! That was soooooo lame! Like, really lame!" he exclaimed, pointing fingers at the two very embarrassed Ice Climbers. "Let me ask you guys something: have you two EVER fought against each other during this whole month of training?"

Their silence was already enough of an answer. Ness rubbed his temples with his index finger, acting way more annoyed than he should be.

"We've been training, okay?" Popo said.

"But have you ever fought against each other?"

"…No," he muttered in defeat.

"Have you even practiced separately? As in, in separate stages and at a different time?"

"Ah, of course we have… twice," Nana scratched the back of her head.

Ness slapped his forehead. Oh, if only Master Hand were there to listen to that. Wasn't the whole different move set shtick supposed to separate them? Those two were so inseparable it was reaching levels of ridiculous, almost as if they couldn't function properly without having the other by their side, especially in the battlefield. Even for siblings that was some pretty extreme dependency. Despite his constant joking of the two looking like magnets, sometimes Ness got worried about his two friends. He wished he knew what passed in the twins' minds sometimes.

"We are three days away from the tournament. You really better start getting used to fighting alone from now on, or Master Hand will eat your kidneys," the psychic boy kneed beside Mega Man and put an arm around his shoulders. "And Rock and I will help you with that, right buddy?"

"Uh… I g-guess?" the robot stuttered. He just wanted to finish practice and call it a day, nothing else.

"Let's go then!"

* * *

**I like to imagine that Ness is a sarcastic little shit that deeply cares about his friends. I have a soft spot for characters like this…**

**Also, from now on my updates might get a little slower. The reason why I could pull all these chapters off so quickly was because I already had most of them complete and I just needed to change some plot points here and there. **

**But now with the story taking a different direction, I can't rely on what I have already written in the original. Especially because I have never gotten to the part where the tournament starts to begin with (and it had seven chapters… I can't believe I took this long)**


	5. Fun and games

Master Hand floated peacefully through the entrance hall, heading towards his office that was located nearby. Finally he had some time to rest, after managing the Mansion's employees and make sure they properly cleaned the place and finished preparing lunch. After all, being the host of the Super Smash Bros tournament, he was also the owner of the Mansion and it was his job to make sure everything was working properly for his dear Smashers.

As he was about to enter his office, he heard a loud crash from behind him. Peace didn't last long after all.

"Crazy not again…" Master Hand said tiredly as he turned around and saw Crazy Hand trying to fix the broken vase on the floor.

"Sorry bro! I'll fix this I PROMISE!" he screeched as he collected the shards and accidentally created small cuts in his body.

"Just leave those there and I'll call someone to clean this mess up. Let's go to my office so I can't treat these cuts," the older hand gestured for his brother to follow him.

The two floating hands entered the office. Once Master Hand got the first aid kit he had one the last drawer of his desk, he noticed the rectangular box Crazy Hand was carrying before.

"What is this?" he asked.

"I was going to ask you if you wanted to play a game with me!" Crazy said shaking the box in excitement, seemingly forgetting about the recent injuries.

Master Hand gently took the box from him and put on his desk. He then proceeded to treat the cuts, being careful to not hurt Crazy (and not let Crazy accidentally hurt himself either).

"Crazy, I am a little tired of your games, you know that very well," he said.

"But I'm boooored! You never want to play anymore!" the younger hand whined.

"Tch, stay quiet so I can finish this soon," Master Hand groaned as Crazy couldn't stop twitching his fingers.

"If I stay quiet will you play?"

Master Hand sighed in defeat. "I will. Now stop moving."

Crazy Hand, as if by magic, stayed still as a statue and let his brother finish the stitches, not once wincing from pain. It took a couple of minutes, but he was as good as new. "Now we play!" Crazy shouted as he got the box from the desk and threw it on the floor.

The box opened with the impact, spreading various chess pieces on the ground.

"Chess again, I see?" Master Hand commented as he picked up the pieces and arranged them orderly on the board. He never liked chess very much, but it could be a lot worse. Crazy could have asked to play hide-and-seek like he did last time. Master Hand knew from experience that he would have a hard time repairing the damage that the game would cause, so he was in part grateful for being something as simple as chess.

To Master Hand, there was no other being more destructive than his own brother.

"This time I'll win!" Crazy exclaimed happily, pumping his fist in the air and almost crashing on the roof.

Once everything was set up properly, their game begun.

* * *

"I… can't take… it anymore…" Nana's voice was weak, "Please tell me it stopped!"

The girl sat on the floor, tired after being forced to fight for one hour straight. Popo, also tired, went to sit by her side and pulled down his hood.

"Yeah, okay, I guess we have overdone a little," Ness said panting. "But you need to admit it was awesome."

"No, no it wasn't. That was a horrible experience and I never want to go through that again," Nana said, also pulling her hood down, revealing her braided hair wet from sweat.

"C'mon, I'm sure you have actually gone through worse. You wouldn't be here if this was the worse you had to do," Ness grinned.

Popo knew exactly what Nana was feeling. Their exhaustion wasn't exactly physical, but rather psychological. Being pinned against each other for one hour straight was very emotionally stressing, considering they had never gone through such a thing before. Was it going to be like this once the tournament begun? He hoped not. But if that was the case, he was seriously considering losing the fight on purpose. Or maybe fake an illness and not battle at all.

Though faking an illness would be hard, considering he never felt ill once. Master Hand said he was an extremely healthy kid. But there must be a first time for everything, after all.

"Whatever, let's leave. It's almost lunch time," Popo said getting up.

The four Smashers jumped off the stage and appeared in the Rest Area, which was a large grotto located in the undergrounds bellow the Mansion. The Rest Area served as a spawn point for Smashers who just finished fighting and needed to return. No matter which stage they were, that grotto was always the point they would end up in. They took the stairs located at the extreme end of it, went back to the Smash Mansion and headed straight to the dining room.

The dining room was a large place, with a huge table in the center with an exact number of seats for the Smashers (Crazy Hand didn't eat with them, since Master Hand was afraid his hyper activeness could bring problems). On the extreme left of the room there was a table with a variety of food, so then everyone could get as much as they wanted. In theory, each Smasher could randomly choose a seat and eat there for the rest of the meal. But in practice, since the Smashers each had their own circle of friends, each one of them had a self-proclaimed reserved seat, near their groups' chairs.

After getting their food, Nana and Popo sat on their respective chairs, side by side. Seated in front of them was a very bored Toon Link playing with his food.

"Wow, you sure look excited, Toony," Nana commented.

Toon Link just shrugged his shoulders and went back to eating. He was tired of training; he wanted to begin fighting for real soon. There was absolutely nothing interesting happening and that bored him a lot.

"Don't worry, we only have three days 'till the tournament begins," she said, as if she had just read his thoughts.

"I don't even know why you want it to start so soon," Ness said as he sat by Toon Link's side. "We all know I'm going to win anyway."

"Just like you did before? Oh, wait, you never won one tournament ever," Popo smirked.

"Look who's talking!" he said throwing a pea at the Ice Climber's face.

"We got close! We-"

Popo was interrupted by a loud sound of something crashing from the hall along with a very annoyed grunt coming from Master Hand. A few Smashers turned their heads to the sounds, but none were actually concerned, as things like those happened every once in a while.

Lucas arrived a few moments later with a full plate on his hands. "I don't know why Master Hand even bothers buying vases and other fragile things. Crazy ends up breaking everything," he said sitting by Nana's side.

"Master Hand is his brother, I'm sure he is used to these accidents," Popo said.

"I don't know. Crazy seemed pretty mad when he broke the vase. I don't think this time was an accident," Lucas commented.

"Well, he IS called Crazy Hand," Ness said.

"I mean, he seemed ANGRY at something."

"Whatever," the red capped boy quickly cut him off, trying to change the subject. "Guys, what do you think about we going out and just skip training for the rest of the day? I'm bored too."

Toon Link's eyes sparkled with interest and he happily nodded to the idea. Since no one had any objections, everyone agreed. Once lunch was over, the group decided to meet at the entrance in about half an hour so they could catch the nearest bus to the center of Smashville. The young Smashers went on their separate ways, either to take a quick shower after the training or to watch some television.

"You know, I've been thinking…" Nana said as she and Popo walked back to their rooms.

"Yeah?"

"About today's training. I know Ness was just trying to help, but I just felt really tired and hurt," Nana went on. "I swear I have never felt this exhausted when training before."

"We are just not used to it. It happens."

Once they arrived at the pink Ice Climber's room, she said her goodbyes and entered. She desperately needed a quick shower and she simply refused to go out feeling like dirt. Today's training just couldn't leave her head. Popo seemed to not think much about it and didn't care, but should she just forget about it too? There was nothing wrong with not wanting to fight your own sibling. In fact, it was a good thing. It was a healthy thing. It meant they had a strong bond.

So strong that once they were forced to compete for real they felt weak and exhausted. Even the thought of having a separate bedroom and a solo fighter title made her feel nervous inside. Almost as if she couldn't grasp the idea of having her own identity.

"I'm overthinking again! There's nothing wrong, Ness was just being a jerk as always," Nana thought as she got ready to shower.

She felt the hot drops of water fall on her and she immediately relaxed. "I'm just overthinking. There's nothing wrong with us," she continued to reassure to herself.

* * *

Lucario walked over to his usual spot in the back of the garden to meditate. It became a habit of his to meditate right after lunch, one of the very few hours of the day where everyone's spirits calmed down, including himself. Once again he would see if he could identify that aura he sensed almost one month ago. As the days continued to pass by, even he started to doubt his own powers, but nonetheless, he continued with that routine. After all, it didn't hurt anyone.

His amber eyes suddenly changed to shiny gold. Closing his eyes, the Pokémon emptied his mind and allowed it to make contact with every living being in the garden. His surroundings still looked the same, but instead of seeing the predominant color green of the trees and bushes or the happy shades of red and pink the flowers had, he saw the whole garden emerged in a white silvery aura. However, there were some shades of murky pink and brown there, and they came from a familiar fat man right behind him.

"_Hello Wario," _Lucario said, rather surprised to see someone like Wario in a place like that.

"WAH, uh, h-hey Lucario," Wario stuttered.

Lucario noticed his voice was a little shaky and his face showed an anxious state of mind. The Pokémon would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit curious. Wario didn't seem like the type of person who got anxious over nothing.

"_Is there something in your mind?" _

"Umm, well," he twitched his moustache. "What-a are you doing?"

"_Meditating. It is something I practice every day," _Lucario said patiently. He knew Wario wanted to say something, but didn't know how to start the conversation. He might as well help him. _"What about you? What are you doing here?"_

"Just-a taking a walk. I got-a tired of doing nothing."

"_Is that so? Is that why you look so anxious?"_

"Anxious?"

"_Yes, anxious."_

A heavy silence fell between the two. Lucario left his meditating position to look him right in the eyes and waited patiently for Wario to speak. The Pokémon noticed the large beads of sweat falling from the other's face.

It took a good couple solid minutes, but he finally spoke. "Say, are you still searching for that-a evil aura, or something like that-a?"

"_Yes, I am. Even though I haven't gotten any results from this search," _Lucario sighed._ "I might as well just give up, this search has been fruitless. With the tournament about to start and all-"_

"Don't-a give up."

"_Excuse me?" _he asked taken aback by that. Wario was one of the least people in that mansion he expected to say encouraging words.

"Ya heard it-a right. Don't-a give up," Wario said it once more, his tone of voice louder now. "Don't-a give up and keep-a searching. You'll find it."

"_I… Thank you for believing in me. But why?"_

Wario at that point just tried to avoid eye contact and Lucario's curiosity just grew even bigger. "Let's-a just say… I might-a have made a mistake. A very big one."

"_A mistake?"_

"I don't-a wanna talk about it," Wario said as he prepared to leave. He turned around and looked the confused Pokémon in the eyes, no longer nervous. "Instead of meditating, you should-a go try to look it-a up for yourself before the tournament-a begins. We all know the Alloys aren't-a gonna be back."

Before he could ask more questions Wario has already left. Lucario stood there dumbfounded, piles of questions forming in his mind. But despite all of that, something inside told him Wario was being sincere.

Maybe he should go investigate that ominous aura himself after all. He just needed to speak with Master Hand first.

* * *

The arcade was bursting with color and sounds as the group of Smashers entered it, money in hand and eyes scanning the new game machines that they could play. Thankfully for them, the place wasn't crowded like it would be in the weekends, so they wouldn't get too much attention from the people there and no one would bother them. Being the participants of the most famous event that happened in Smashville lead to things like those, which was the reason the Smashers avoided leaving the Mansion with frequency.

Once they finished paying for credits they began searching for some to play. Toon Link quickly entered in a shooting game cabin, and since that game required another player, he dragged Ness with him. The Ice Climbers and Lucas continued searching, along with the Villager, who they invited to go with them also.

"Hey, Villager, I was wondering something. I know that that's pretty much what Master Hand and everyone calls you, but is Villager really your name?" Nana asked out of curiosity.

"Of course it isn't. What kind of name would be that?" Villager laughed.

"He he, I knew that," the girl laughed awkwardly. "So what's your name?"

Villager put a hand on his chin and stared at the ground for a moment, but soon turned to Nana again. Nana couldn't help but notice his uncanny black eyes and how his stare sent shivers down her spine. If she didn't know him any better, she could swear that that kid would haunt her in her dreams. Good thing he was such a sweet person.

"You know… I don't think I remember it," he simply said and continued walking.

"What? What do you mean you don't remember it? Nobody just forgets their own name," Popo said skeptically.

"Maybe you have a very specific amnesia?" Lucas suggested.

"I don't know and, honestly, I don't really care," Villager put his hands behind his head and gave an embarrassed smile. "Just call me Villager, like everyone else does. I don't mind."

He was sweet, but also very strange. The Wii Fit Trainer came into Nana's mind, as the yoga instructor too didn't seem to want to talk about her name and just brushed it off like it was nothing. Master Hand sure had chosen some weird newcomers for the new tournament.

The four friends soon found a machine where they could play and so they stayed there until Toon Link and Ness finished their shooting game. The game in that particular machine was meant for two teams of two people, which was an excellent way for Nana to prove it to herself hat there was nothing wrong with her and that she didn't depend on Popo for anything. The girl quickly chose Lucas as her partner, ignoring the annoyed look her brother gave her, and pressed start.

The game went on and that tired feeling she had when battling didn't appear. She was having fun blasting laser beams at her brother's character without a tinge of stress. There was nothing wrong with her, after all. Even if she and Lucas were losing, she couldn't help but smile in relief.

It didn't take long for all their credits to be spent and so they decided to just fool around at the center of the city until the afternoon was over. The group walked over to a small street and sat near the crepe shop there. The sky was already orange and pink as the sun began to set in the horizon. In a few minutes they would have to return, but for now they just enjoyed the beautiful twilight and warm weather.

"So, you guys up for a free-for-all tomorrow?" Ness asked as he took a bite from his crepe.

"Oh, hell no! Not with you!" Popo complained.

"What? Why not?!" the psychic sounded genuinely offended.

"After what you did today to me and Nana? No thank you!"

Lucas and Villager looked at Nana with curious eyes, which resulted in her looking away in embarrassment.

"Sorry I tried to help you," Ness said bitterly. He took a bitter bite on his food. "Continue being two magnets then and get in trouble with Master Hand, see if I care."

"Help us? You-"

"If Popo doesn't want to, I want," Nana said quickly interrupting him.

Popo stood there with his jaw open. Had she forgotten how stressful was today's training? What was she even thinking?

"I mean, you are right. We need to learn how to fight on our own," the girl said avoiding eye contact with Popo.

Ness muttered a half-hearted "okay" and stood up. The sun had already set and it was time to get back home. Toon Link and Villager followed him suit, leaving only the Ice Climbers and Lucas seated there.

"So umm… mind if I join in? I don't think we have ever trained together this month," Lucas asked.

Nana nodded with a smile on her face, still avoiding eye contact with Popo. She quickly got up and ran towards the waiting group of friends, followed suit by Lucas. The blue Ice Climber just stood there, baffled at what was happening. Nana was definitely acting strange. He would asked what was up with her odd behavior. Once he joined the group, they all took the nearest bus to the Smash Mansion.

As soon as they stepped in the entrance of the mansion, they saw a very worried Rosalina and Luma floating at their direction.

"Rosalina, what's the problem?" Nana asked.

"I am very sorry for startling you, but Master Hand wants all of you at the living room right now," Rosalina said trying her best to remain a calm tone of voice. Luma, on the other hand, nervously floated beside her.

"D-Did we do something wrong?" Lucas asked nervously.

"No, you didn't. He is not out to punish you, he only wants to have a talk with all the Smashers, it seems."

They exchanged nervous glances and headed to the living room. From Rosalina's tone of voice, nothing could come out of that talk.

* * *

**This chapter was finished fairly quickly. I guess that warning served as a motivation for me to write. And now thanks to Kingdom Hearts 2, I can't help but imagine Smashville as being similar to Twilight Town, mostly because this particular world in the game gives me a lot of feels.**

**Anyway, reviews are welcomed. I want to know what you guys think and what I can do to improve the story****.**


	6. Nothing wrong with us

**I can't even believe Lucina and Robin were confirmed! No, they aren't going to appear in this chapter, I'm just very happy for their addition to the roster. Never played Fire Emblem Awakening, but I like Lucina's character nonetheless. **

**Just a quick note before we start. When a Pokémon (with the exception of Lucario, obviously) talks "(like this)" it's because they are talking in their... special language. The parenthesis are kind of a translator, but no one, who isn't a Pokémon, in the story will understand clearly.**

**Anyway, onto the chapter.**

* * *

The group of young Smashers was greeted by the buzzing sound of quiet conversation from everyone in the living room. Just like them, it appeared that nobody there had a clue about what Master Hand could want to talk that was so serious. As soon as he saw the late arrivers take their places, Master Hand coughed, gaining everyone's attention and making the room fall into complete silence.

"Now that everyone is here, I can finally begin," said the hand as all eyes turned to him. "I would like to start off by saying that I am terribly sorry. I am sorry for keeping you in the dark for so long during this whole month, and for pretending that everything is fine, when worse things are yet to come."

There was dead silence coming from the room, the apology not quite processing in their minds. "What do you mean by keeping us in the dark for so long?!" Ike asked, his irritation apparent in his voice. Master Hand gestured for him to quiet down, as he had yet to continue.

"You may remember the menacing aura Lucario said he had felt almost one month ago, right?"

Lucario shrugged slightly as all their attention briefly turned to him, but soon went back to their host. "I have sent some Alloys to investigate the outskirts of the city, but I am sure you have noticed how none of them have returned up until now."

"Yeah, we have even-"

"Begun speculating whatever could have happened to them!" said Palutena making sure to interrupt Pit before he let anything slip. "We even thought about asking you about them eventually."

"What happened is that they were completely destroyed."

"B-But how is that possible? I mean, the Alloys are pretty resistant and are also very good fighters…" Pit said with his stomach turning at the news. Even when they were battling against the A.I. beings, they never actually got to the point of destroying them. By the dead silence from his fellow Smashers, he assumed he was not the only with that sentiment.

"To put it bluntly, they were attacked by Primids."

All hell broke loose from there. Master Hand entered in a defensive position as he was bombarded over and over again with questions and demands from the veteran Smashers. Was Subspace back? How could it be back if they have destroyed it? Did it swallow any piece of land yet? How many people could be infected by shadow bugs by now?

How could Tabuu, lord of Subspace, still be alive?

"Smashers, please, I don't know all of the answers," the hand said gesturing for them to calm down, to little avail. "I am as confused as you. The reason I didn't say anything before was exactly because of this. I understand you are all frustrated, and it pains me to know that I can't do much right now."

"So why say it now?" Peach asked in concern.

"Because if I don't say it now, then I won't have another opportunity to do so," Master Hand paused for a moment before continuing. "Oh, and there's one more thing that I would like to say. Take good care of each other and be careful when alone. Even when you are in your rooms, don't let your guards down."

Popo instinctively looked at Nana. What Master Hand just said was all the more reason for them stick together, then.

"I am sorry once again for not being able to give all of the answers. This is the best I can do for now. But I rest assure you all that all of your questions will be answered eventually. You are dismissed."

Master Hand left the room, completely ignoring the incoming storm of questions from everyone present there. Frustrated and now a little bit paranoid, the Smashers left the living room one by one, only a few staying behind to digest what they have just heard.

"I can't even believe this," Nana complained as she sunk on the sofa. "I… what can we even do with this piece of information?"

"We do like Master Hand said, we stick together," Popo made sure to put extra emphasis on the last part.

"Stick together, uh?" she muttered. She knew her brother well enough to know that that statement was an indirect sting at her.

Villager seemed to be totally lost in the whole conversation. "What is the big deal of this Subspace business? What did I miss?"

"Man, I forget that some people here didn't even go through the hell that was Subspace! It's almost unreal. You are sooooo lucky," Ness mused. "Okay, I'll explain everything."

Taking the opportunity that their friends would be too occupied making sure Ness' story didn't go off tracks or get greatly exaggerated, Popo gestured for Nana to follow him. That was the perfect opportunity to talk and he knew for a fact that his sister wouldn't ignore him now.

The two quietly left the living room and walked towards the backyard, none of them uttering a word in the meantime. The stars had already appeared in the sky, and thanks to the full moon, the backyard was completely covered in a silvery light. The white flowers also gave the place a rather nice touch. Nana would enjoy the atmosphere a lot better if she didn't know the awkward conversation that was about to come.

"Nana," Popo started. "Just… what's your problem?"

"There isn't a problem?"

"Yes there is, I can see it in your face."

Nana crossed her arms and sighed. Sometimes Popo could be so annoying. "What makes you think that there's a problem to begin with?"

"What was up with you accepting Ness' invitation for a free-for-all? Don't tell me you actually thought that his training was a great work out?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course his training today wasn't the best, but he was trying to help us..."

"It doesn't excuse the fact that he forced us to fight like that and hurt each other," Popo rolled his eyes.

"But isn't that the point of a battle? Especially now that we are going to be on our own?" Nana asked raising an eyebrow at him. Normally she would smirk at Popo's loss of words and take her winning the argument for granted, but somehow she didn't feel like it that time.

"We are going to have to face each other eventually," the girl made a bitter expression as she continued. "And trust me, I don't look forward to it. I don't want to fight you at all. I don't even want to fight alone. I wish Master Hand was just joking when he said we were being completely separated."

"Then why are you defending Ness in this?"

"Oh my God, Popo, this has nothing to do with Ness!" Nana sighed. "I'm afraid, okay? I'm afraid of having to fight you, of having to go out in the battlefield alone. And, I guess, that's what making me feel so weird."

Popo tilted his head in confusion. When he finally thought he was going to get some answers, he got even more questions in return. "Why does this make you feel weird?"

"Because this just doesn't feel right! I… Popo, do you think I depend too much on you?"

"How did you even get to this conclusion?!"

"Because I stopped to think about all of the battles we used to have against the other Smashers. Every time you were thrown off of the stage and I had to fight for myself something in me just felt numb and weak. Like half of my strength had just been cut off," Nana's voice was meek. She didn't know what was happening to her or why had she started to think about this only now.

"I don't see anything wrong with that," he shrugged.

"You don't?"

"Yeah, I mean, so what if you don't feel like fighting alone? We've been fighting together as one every tournament. It's normal that you feel like something is missing," Popo gave a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine, there's nothing wrong with you."

"You really think so?"

"Sure! I feel like this too, but I know it's nothing to worry about."

"Then why did we get so exhausted today?"

"Like I said, we are not used to it," said Popo scratching his head. "But I guess it was kinda our fault. We should have trained separately more and get used to it little by little."

Nana stayed silent for a while but went back to her usual smile. He was right, she was overthinking. She wasn't dependent on anyone, especially on Popo. She just needed to get used to being alone and she would get better in no time. Did it mean that she would like fighting her brother? No, but she would have to deal with it, like it or not.

As the two prepared to leave, Popo could swear he saw a shadow sneak by the bushes. He instinctively pulled Nana closer to him and waited. Alarmed by that, Nana also got in a defensive position, but soon relaxed once they realized there was nothing there.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I don't know and I don't want to find out. Let's go…"

* * *

Palutena took a deep breath and knocked on the office's door, waiting patiently for Master Hand to attend her. She knew that after a reunion like that with the Smashers, their host wouldn't be in the best mood to talk, but if there was a moment for her to say what information she had about the Subspace situation, that moment was now. The goddess also knew that Pit wasn't the type to sit down and talk calmly, so it was up to her to explain the situation. The door opened and she was greeted by a tired looking Master Hand.

Well, she assumed he looked tired anyway.

"Palutena? Oh, please, do come in," Master Hand said gesturing for her to enter.

She stepped in, only to notice Lucario was already there, occupying one of the two chairs available. Palutena waved and was greeted with an acknowledged nod from the Pokémon.

"I presume you are here because of what I have said back in the living room?" Master Hand asked after the three of them were settled down.

Palutena nodded. "I'm just curious about why all of a sudden you decided to drop this bomb. Especially because you said that you don't know how to handle this situation yet," she said making sure to sound as polite as possible.

"That is because at first I was planning on waiting until I could gather more information. It was only after Lucario came to me that I changed my mind."

"Is that so?"

"_Indeed," _said Lucario with his arms crossed._ "I was tired of meditating and getting nowhere. I asked for Master Hand's permission to go investigate the dark aura myself, and I think this is when he decided he could no longer omit the truth."_

"Didn't think you could come up with a convincing excuse for him, uh?" Palutena chuckled. To think something as simple as Lucario asking for permission to investigate was what made Master Hand spill the beans. It was a humorous situation.

"Not quite. I could easily just have told the truth to Lucario and still keep lying to you," Master Hand responded. "Now, why are you here? It isn't because you were 'just curious', am I correct?"

"You're right, it isn't," Palutena went back to being serious. "To tell you the truth, Master Hand, since the beginning I thought there was something sketchy happening. You can say I had a terrible feeling, a sixth sense. Not only I, but Pit also didn't trust the Alloys would succeed in their mission."

"Are you saying…"

"We have been investigating the outskirts of Smashville ourselves," the goddess confessed, receiving a look of surprise from Lucario.

Master Hand tapped his fingers on his wooden desk, creating a moment of tension between the three. Both Smashers knew that the hand didn't like to be disobeyed and feared he might lose his temper.

Luckily for them, he regained his composure before he could even lose it. "You are a sneaky one, Palutena," he simply said. "Normally, I would punish you for breaking an order, but this is not the time, nor the occasion to do that. I only hope that you and Pit at least have wielded some results from your… trips to the outskirts."

"We couldn't do much, considering Pit's limited flying time. But we know where, at least, it's NOT coming from," Palutena grinned.

* * *

"And then Tabuu exploded into a millions pieces and we escaped from Subspace, while all the land it stole returned to normal," Ness finished off.

"You are still telling that story?" Popo asked in disbelief as he and Nana arrived at the living room.

"Trust me, he would still be talking about how he saved everyone from being a trophy if we hadn't intervened," Lucas said.

"And how I saved you from Pokey, that's also important," Ness boasted, putting an arm around his shoulder. "And from Wario! I'm like your bodyguard and I demand some respect!"

Lucas rolled his eyes, making no attempt to refute or push his needy friend away. Arguing with Ness was a waste of energy and time. It's not like Lucas really minded when his friend was acting cocky anyway. Toon Link, on the other hand, couldn't stop pushing his face against the palm of his hands any further. To him, Ness had a lot of qualities, but modesty wasn't one of them.

"Still, it looks like you guys have gone through a lot," Villager said.

"We did. And I sure as hell don't want to go through it again," Nana sighed.

There was a silent agreement from everyone there. Nobody wanted to go through the same experience they had when Subspace threatened to take over the world. And somehow that wish of theirs made them feel less safe than before.

The suspicious shadow in the backyard came back to Popo's mind. That wasn't the first time he had seen or felt something like that. A shiver ran down his spine as he imagined what could have happened if the shadow decided to attack. He was completely vulnerable, as he wasn't carrying his hammer and was alone. Popo realized that whatever those shadows wanted, they were waiting for the right moment to act, or else, he probably wouldn't be there.

He didn't feel any better, though. The enemy was too close for comfort. He didn't feel safe in that mansion anymore. Who knows what could be around the corner?

"We will be fine," said Lucas trying to stay positive. "This time we are aware of what Tabuu is planning, so we won't be taken by surprise."

"Yeah! Not to mention, last time he had Bowser, Wario and Ganondorf helping him," Ness agreed, also trying to stay positive. "And I'm sure none of them are dumb enough to help him again. So he only has his minions and himself to count on. This makes our job of taking him down easier!"

"I hope so…" Nana muttered.

Toon Link put a hand on her shoulder and gave a reassuring smile, as if saying everything would be fine. The Hylian, unlike the rest of the veterans, didn't get involved in the incident like the others. He only realized something was wrong when he was already caught up in the dark energy of Subspace. He helped in defeating Tabuu because that was what he was told to do, nothing else. But he knew that the lord of Subspace wasn't one to laugh it off.

The group of friends agreed to stay close and alert, just in case. If one of them felt like something wasn't right, he or she would call for help immediately. That apparently brought a sense of security to them, even if that little bit of paranoia was still there.

When dinner time arrived, the atmosphere between the Smashers felt rather tense. Everyone talked and laughed like always, yet the conversations were shorter and the laughs felt awkward. The excitement and eagerness for the tournament to begin appeared to have gone away, as everyone now couldn't stop thinking about Subspace. Even the newcomers, who had nothing to do with the events from the previous tournament, didn't feel like talking that much.

Lucario ate his food in silence. It was true that he feared what could happen in the future just as much as any Smasher there. But something inside him also felt relief, which made him feel very guilty. He knew he wasn't crazy after all. His aura powers were spot on, there was an evil aura. Yet he knew he shouldn't be this relieved that he was right.

The Pokémon looked at Wario, who also ate his food in silence. He seemed normal enough, eating everything in the plate in such a hurry that it looked like he was swallowing it without a second thought. If Lucario didn't know any better, he would think the plumber wasn't bothered at all. Maybe it was his way of coping with his guilt of whatever terrible mistake he did. Or he really didn't care at all and that confession of his was just an out-of-character moment that he intended to not repeat. Maybe he didn't know any better, in the end.

He didn't know what Wario did, but it would be counter-productive to lash out on him now, of all times. Lucario would have to be cautious when dealing with him.

"(… and I don't look forward to it at all. Lucario, you listening?)" Pikachu asked, bringing Lucario back to his senses.

"_You were talking to me, Pikachu?" _

"(Oh, wow, thanks for listening to me! I really appreciate it,)" the yellow rat pouted.

"_I am sorry. I was distracted."_

"(I can see THAT! Anyway, I was saying that I don't look forward to meeting Master Hand after dinner. As if I'm not afraid of Tabuu returning enough. Now I have to fear receiving a royal kick in the butt from Master Hand!)"

"(Ha ha, you are SO dead!)" Charizard laughed, puffs of smoke escaping from his nostrils. Pikachu politely refuted that statement by raising his small fist at the dragon. Politely, of course.

"(Let him be, Charizard. Pikachu doesn't need you being a smartass on him now,)" Greninja said and took a sip from his tea, as he was smart enough to not tick the full-time veteran off.

"_Why does he want to talk to you, in particular?" _Lucario asked as he finished his food.

"(I don't know! He just does,)" Pikachu exclaimed. The incident with the electrical outlet that caused a blackout for two days came to his mind. Did Master Hand find out he was the culprit?

Pikachu got down from his chair once he finished his dinner. He waved his goodbyes and went straight to Master Hand's office, ready to sign his death sentence. Charizard looked at him go with a smirk on his face, while Lucario and Greninja had a look of pity on their faces. Pikachu didn't have the record of being the best-behaved Smasher, but he never did anything so serious that Master Hand had to call him to talk in the office. The group of Pokémon just hoped he survived.

Lucario looked again at Wario, but the fat man had already left the table too. The Pokémon sighed and excused himself. He didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of the night and couldn't wait to go to his room. As he was about to take the grand stairs to the second floor, he saw Pikachu leaving Master Hand's office, his face looking rather nervous.

"_Pikachu? What happened?" _he asked, startling the mouse. _"I apologize for scaring you, but you don't mean to tell me you have already talked with Master Hand?"_

"(Who…? Oh, yeah, Lucario! H-Hey!)" Pikachu greeted awkwardly. "(Yeah, already got scolded. Golly, Master Hand sure was nervous, he he!)"

Something seemed off with Pikachu, yet Lucario couldn't figure it out what was it. _"How come was it so quick? I saw you leaving the table a couple minutes ago," _he said. Pikachu gave out a nervous laugh, which made Lucario even more suspicious.

"(Eh, Master Hand just wanted to warn me that the tournament was right around the corner and that he saw me slacking off. Y'know, that this way I wouldn't do well and stuff.)"

"_Just that?"_

"(Just that. Anyways, I'm tired and I need a good night of sleep. Smell ya later, Lucario!,)" Pikachu prepared to leave but stopped on his tracks. The mouse Pokémon turned around, with the biggest grin Lucario has ever seen in such a small creature. "(Say, you wanna practice tomorrow after breakfast? I feel like I haven't fought in, like, forever.)"

"_I… Of course, I have nothing scheduled for tomorrow."_

"(Okay, cool, see ya!)" Pikachu squeaked and left skipping on his four paws.

Lucario stood there, dumbfounded. Pikachu seemed extremely perky for someone who had been scolded minutes ago.

"_I don't understand anything, anymore," _he said in defeat and headed upstairs.

* * *

_The entity observed through a portal the illuminated and cheerful Smashville from its chamber at the center of Subspace. Hard to imagine such a beautiful city could host one of the most heated and violent events ever. The entity sneered at the mere thought of it. How ironic was that such a beautiful and peaceful world could depend so much on a fighting tournament to stay the way it was._

_But that peace would soon be over._

_The figure stared at the Smashball floating on the pedestal by his side with satisfaction and eagerness. Once the new Super Smash Bros tournament begun, its plan would be put in action. He would make sure that that world so precious to him would fall into chaos._

* * *

**Next chapter the tournament will finally begin. I'm also surprised at how Lucario's role got bigger than what I was planning for him, since in the beginning he was just there to say "Hey, I sense danger. Go investigate it". But I don't regret giving him more screen time.**

**Reviews are welcomed.**


	7. Let the tournament begin!

"...and then I sent Robin a taste of her own medicine and took her last life with a PK Thunder," Ness bragged, his arm around Lucas' shoulders. Lucas just rolled his eyes, but made no attempt to shake his arm off. Ness was being very clingy to him today… more than usual, anyway.

"Yes, Ness, I know. You are a great fighter," the blonde said. He looked from the corridor they were in at the crowd of people outside. "There sure are a lot of people today here at the stadium…" he gulped.

It was finally the day of the opening ceremony and the beginning of the tournament. As per tradition, the fighters of each world would present themselves together with those who came from the same world as theirs. Last tournament Ness made sure to have Lucas close to him, as a newcomer at the time, so he wouldn't get lost. Lucas was just assuming that his clinginess today was the same protective instinct he had before.

The crowd cheered from the stands, eager to see their favorite fighters once more to engage in battle. The stage at the center was filled with performers simulating the Smashers' fighting moves in a choreographed dance. The opening show also feature elements from each world represented. The loud music vibrated and excited the crowd, making them even more excited to see both veteran and newcomer fighters.

Lucas felt nervous and excited at the same time. Having all those people staring at him made him want to dig a hole on the ground and hide there. But just the thought of people cheering and rooting for him made him want to show the best he could do as a Smasher. He could tell Ness felt the same, despite being a lot more outgoing and experienced than him. Lucas couldn't imagine how his friend felt the first time he had done that.

The staff soon found the two boys lurking at the entrance and sent them back to where they should be waiting before any of them could be spotted by some fan. Letting out a sigh, he and Ness went back to the waiting room.

Due to the even bigger number of fighters this year, Master Hand made sure create two separate rooms, so nobody would feel squished between themselves. They were pretty much identical, with various sofas and cushions, a free buffet and a giant TV screen to show how everything was going outside at the stadium. Lucas and Ness could watch the opening ceremony there, but they felt that the real magic was seeing everything in person.

"Told you guys you would be send back," Popo said with a smirk as he saw the two boys returning.

"Yeah, well, shut up. We got to see the real thing and it was great, even if only for a few minutes," Ness said pulling Lucas by the arm. The two sat at the sofa that Popo managed to hog for them. "Uh, where's Nana?" the jet haired asked.

"At the other room with the girls, I guess."

"What a rare sight! So you two can stay more than twenty meters away from each other!" Ness exclaimed.

Popo was about to reply, but Lucas was faster. "Ness, don't go making fun of them, because you've been acting very clingy to me today," he said crossing his arms. "Since we woke up you won't leave me alone."

Ness was at loss of words for a moment, but that didn't take long. "I haven't even noticed that. Sorry Lucas it's just that…" Ness grabbed both the other psychic's cheeks. "With that pretty face of yours, and the Subspace threat right around the corner, my big brother instinct activates and makes me want to protect you at all costs!"

"Okay, that's it! Let go!" Lucas pushed his friend's hands away and started to hit the laughing boy's head. "I'm not some princess you need to save! And I'm one year older than you, what the heck!"

"Ha ha ha, your face was priceless… OW!" Ness raised his hands to defend himself from the other's fists. It hurt, but it was worth it.

Popo clutched his ribs, as he feared they might pop out from laughter. "Just kiss already you two!" he cackled, only to then be the target of both boys' attacks.

The three received a deadly glare from Bowser that told them to quiet down. The trio, little by little, calmed down and continued watching the opening ceremony. In about half an hour they would be called to prepare themselves to enter the stage.

If Nana didn't appear soon, Popo would make sure to go after her. Separated or not, they were still the only Smashers from their world, so they would have to walk together. Makes one wonder why Master Hand wanted to separate them to begin with. Popo looked at the door once again and Ness sighed in annoyance.

"Relaaaaax, she's just in the other room," the red capped boy turned the Ice Climber's head back to the TV. "She has another social life that isn't us. Granted, we are a lot better and funnier," Ness ignored the snort that escaped from Lucas. "But it's still something."

"Okay, okay, I got it. You want me all to yourself," Popo joked, shaking him off. "I'm sorry that you feel threatened by my own sister."

"Yeah, this is getting creepy. Stop it you two," Lucas pleaded. The other two boys just snickered.

At the other waiting room, Nana watched the opening ceremony passing on the TV with a mixture of excitement and anxiety on her face. Samus, in her orange and yellow bulky suit, was seated by her side on the sofa, noticed her apprehensive look and petted her head.

"Hey now, what is it that is making you so nervous? Aren't you excited for the tournament?" the bounty huntress smiled. She wasn't wearing her helmet, so Nana could see it clear on the older woman's face.

"I am, Samus, I really am," the girl sighed. "I guess I'm feeling like this because I don't know how this tournament will turn out, y'know?"

"Oh, is that all?"

"Well, there is also the fact that we might be attacked by Primids and other Subspace creatures, but that's just a small detail," Nana smirked.

"A small detail, nothing to worry about," said Samus playfully. Her face then became serious again. "Now that you have mentioned it, I'm also not in the best mood because of this. Just the thought of Tabuu returning makes me uneasy. I'm surprised Master Hand decided to continue this Super Smash Bros tournament, regardless of the current situation."

"Makes you wonder about his priorities, doesn't it?"

"It does. However, we must trust that Master Hand knows what he is doing."

Samus was one of the most loyal Smashers in the Mansion and trusted Master Hand completely. In all her time participating in the Super Smash Bros tournament, Master Hand never gave her a reason to distrust him. So if he was certain that there wasn't a problem in continuing with the tournament, then she wouldn't worry. But even she, who had so much faith in their host, has trouble shaking off the uneasy feeling.

It also didn't help that said host was nowhere to be seen. Samus couldn't recall seeing him all day. Where was he?

Seeing how they would call the fighters in a few minutes, Nana thought it was best she went back to Popo so the two could be ready. She said her goodbyes to Samus and headed towards the room he was in. On her way, she saw that Popo had the same idea as hers, as he walked towards her. The two chuckled at the coincidence and went straight to the exit they would use to enter the stage.

Some Smashers were already there, mostly newcomers who didn't want to be late in presenting themselves and early bird veterans. The roar from the people outside could be heard loud and clear from there. Nana gulped, while Popo couldn't stop grinning.

"The crowd sure is… agitated, isn't it?" the girl asked without turning her head to the exit, so she could avoid seeing them.

"Yeah, isn't it awesome?" Popo replied, completely oblivious to the other's nervousness.

Lucas, Ness and Toon Link arrived a few seconds later. Villager also joined the group since he didn't want to wait alone too. Walking alone and being the sole fighter from his home world was already bad enough.

"Okay, guys, this is it!" a young woman sporting a headset called out from the exit. "They are going to call you. Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Bowser Jr. and Rosalina and Luma, you guys go first! The rest of you, stay alert for when they call your home worlds."

As she finished, the announcer boomed outside, calling forth the Mushroom Kingdom residents. Once they were out, they called out for the Hyrule residents. And so it went on and on, until it was time to call for the Earthbound Smashers. Ness, agitated as ever, grabbed Lucas by the arm and dragged him outside.

Nana looked at Lucas with pity, only to feel like a hypocrite because she grabbed Popo's arm the same way Ness did. Maybe he was just as nervous as her.

"**From the Icicle Mountains, the fighters Popo and Nana**"

The two cringed at how the announcer introduced them separately, instead of saying Ice Climbers. However, that wasn't the time to complain and the siblings hold hands and went outside with their heads up high and carrying their hammers on their shoulder.

The atmosphere at the stadium was overwhelming, with people shouting their names and rooting for them. Everywhere they looked, people stared back at them expecting a great fighting performance from the two. But they couldn't let the loud cheering distract them and the Ice Climbers walked to their designated spot by the side of Ness and Lucas. They raised the hammers in the air, a promising gesture that told they would do their best.

At the far off left side of the line, Samus looked around nervously. Master Hand wasn't anywhere to be seen, which was strange, considering that he always appeared before the Smashers at opening ceremonies. What could have happened?

She leaned over Fox, not taking her eyes off her surroundings. "Have you seen Master Hand yet?" she asked.

Fox shook his head. He looked as worried as her. "Sorry, Samus, I haven't. He simply disappeared," he answered looking around. "I wonder if he's planning on doing something different this tournament."

"Without even saying anything to us? I highly doubt it," the bounty huntress said skeptically.

"I don't know. I only wish he was here. It feels weird not having Master Hand around. Y'know, the host of this entire shtick?"

Samus nodded and continued watching her surroundings. There was no sign of their host anywhere and it didn't look like he would appear soon.

"What is going on…"

Fireworks flew high in the sky and exploded in various colors, symbolizing the beginning of the new tournament. Samus looked up with eyes filled with worry instead of joy. She didn't know how to explain it, but she had the feeling they wouldn't be seeing Master Hand in a very long time.

"**So let's begin SUPER SMASH BROOOOS!"**

* * *

Nana took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves down. With shaky hands, she raised her hammer and stared at the goddess in front of her. She had already lost two of her three lives, while Palutena, her first opponent, had lost only one and seemed to not be bothered that much about it.

Palutena gave a devious smile and pointed her staff at the trembling Ice Climber in front of her. With a confident and imposing voice, she shouted: "Auto reticle!"

Nana quickly ducked as Palutena shoot, barely missing. The small girl took the opportunity to freeze the floor beneath her opponent, giving her no choice but to stay still or she would trip. Good thing Palutena was wearing heels. That facilitated her job.

Palutena raised her staff in a defensive position as she saw the Ice Climber rushing at her. She countered Nana's attack and sent her flying a few feet away from her. When the ice beneath her melted, she dashed at Nana ready to hit her with her staff, but Nana was faster and hit her with her ice projectile, stunning the goddess just enough for her to hit her with her Squall Hammer attack.

At the mansion, Popo watched the fight happening at the Gerudo Valley stage between the two women through one of the living room's TV screens. If only he was there, that match would be set in no time. The moment Palutena's guard lowered the two would just chain grab her and take out one of her lives in less than then seconds. He glanced at his hammer resting by his side and frowned.

Pit, on the other hand, was a lot more cheerful. It was hard for Popo to concentrate when the angel seated by his side cheered with the force of one thousand fangirls. It wouldn't be so bad, if he wasn't rooting for his sister's opponent.

"Yeah! Use the Heavenly Light and destroy her, Lady Palutena!" Pit said pumping his fist in the air.

"Pit, can you, like, not?" asked Popo. The angel could be so insufferable sometimes.

"Can I not what?" he asked, completely oblivious to the other's annoyance.

"You do realize that Palutena's opponent is my sister, right?"

"Oh… OH! Sorry about that," Pit apologized and quieted down. "If it makes you feel better, Nana's doing pretty well."

"Heh, thanks," Popo murmured and continued watching the fight.

If only he was there.

* * *

A horrible wave of bad energy hit Lucario all of a sudden like a bullet, making him interrupt his aura sphere build up and look around the battlefield with very desperate amber eyes. It made his head pound and his respiration shorten. Where was the source of that dark aura? It almost felt like it came from all places, crushing him entirely.

Pikachu also stopped what he was doing and tilted his head to the side. Whatever happened to their fight? Impatient and irritated, he electroshocked the blue Pokémon, bringing back his attention to the battle.

"(Lucario, what are you doing?)" Pikachu whispered. "(Concentrate on the battle!)"

"_P-Pikachu, we need to get out of here r-right now!_" Lucario said, recovering from the sudden thunder attack.

"(W-Wait, what?)"

"_We need to run!_" the steel type Pokémon urged.

But before any of the two could move, the whole stage was engulfed in darkness and so did their consciousness.

* * *

Popo was speechless. What the hell did just happen? A moment ago, Nana and Palutena were engaged in an intense battle on Gerudo Valley. Now the screen showed the entire stage taken over by a dark mass of energy. Not only the one they were in, but about half of the battlefields were suffering the same fate. He could only watch in dead silence as more and more Smashers and stages were consumed by darkness.

And suddenly it hit him. His sister was taken over by that darkness right in front of him. And he was there in the mansion without being able to do a thing to help. He shakily got up from the sofa with his knuckles white from how hard he was grabbing his hammer.

"N-No, no! Nana, NANA!" Popo screamed in blind rage. He was on the verge of hitting the television when Pit grabbed his arm.

Popo turned around and faced the angel. He had never seen Pit so pale. His hand was shaking and Popo could easily let go from his grasp if he wanted to. But seeing Pit in that state seemed to make his own rage and despair calm down a bit. Only the sufficient for him to understand that breaking the television wasn't going to bring Nana and the rest of the Smashers captured back.

"We need to talk with Master Hand," Pit said.

In less than twenty minutes, the remaining Smashers in the Smash Mansion was reunited in the living room, all very aware of the situation. Unfortunately, Master Hand was nowhere to be seen and it didn't take long for them to understand that they were on their own. Crazy also had mysteriously disappeared, though no one ever thought about him being of any use.

"(Let's do like before and dive into Subspace and rescue everyone!)" Charizard roared, almost spitting fire on the floor.

"Charizard, I understand that you are angry. We all want our beloved ones back. However, we need to discuss a rescue plan first, so sit down," Zelda commanded and the fire type sat down on the floor, still very annoyed.

"First things first, we need a list of who was fighting when the explosions happened," Villager said. He took a mini notepad and pen from his pocket and proceeded on writing down the names.

He had to pause two or three times, so the Smashers would stop trying to shout over other the missing people's names, but in the end, the list was done. Villager passed the notepad around to facilitate his job.

The list had the names: Mario, Link, Samus, Kirby, Pikachu, Yoshi, Lucas, Lucario, Robin, Ike, Diddy Kong, King DeDeDe, Palutena and Nana.

"That's almost half of us," Fox commented bitterly. "Alright, we need to form a rescue party. Those masses of energy probably work the same way from before. We just need to enter them and we will be in Subspace."

"Wait, but how will we get out?" Sonic asked. "I mean, I don't remember seeing any exit the last time we were in. We just got out because we blasted Tabuu into pieces. By the way, you're welcome."

"(It's been years since you broke Tabuu's wings, just let it go already!)" Charizard complained. "(You are not the only one who defeated him!)"

"In fact, that is a good question. Once we are in, how are we getting out?" Peach asked with a finger on her chin. "After all, if leaving Subspace was as easy as getting dragged into it, then everyone captured would only need to step out of it, right?"

Nobody knew how to answer that question. As far as everyone could recall, there wasn't even a sign of an exit. They escaped last time because they defeated Tabuu, but they didn't know of another solution. The only way was to go in there and face Tabuu once again, but the lord of Subspace sure had something up his sleeve this time.

They didn't even know what had caused those explosions in the first place. It could be the job of a bomb, like it happened before, yet where could it be located? The stages were very well secured and something as big as those bombs would be seen in no time. Unless Tabuu, somehow, have managed to create micro bombs as powerful as the previous ones.

"We can at least take comfort in knowing everyone there can defend themselves. As long as they stick together, the Primids won't be much of a bother, right?" Mega Man asked.

"One Primid isn't much of a problem. But some of them come in swarms and it can be very tiring fighting all of them at once. And we're not even taking in consideration the rest of the Subspace creatures," said Fox.

Ness let out a sigh and got up from the floor. He informed that he was going to get a cup of water and would be back in a second. Popo also got up and decided to follow him. The two boys were just too tired and devastated to think properly at the moment and that debate that seemed to go nowhere wasn't helping at all.

"They got Luke and Nana, I can't even believe it," Ness whispered as he got the water jar from the fridge. He poured it into the glass cup distractedly, spilling liquid all over the table. He didn't bother with that and just left it that way. "I'm sorry for you, dude. I mean, Nana's your sister. I can imagine the way you feel about this…"

"Yeah," Popo couldn't utter another word.

"We-We're going to bring them back, though! And they are super strong and can survive in that place, even if they depend on us," Ness said forcing a smile on his face. Popo couldn't help but notice that that forced smile made his face look ridiculous. But that somehow cheered him up a little bit.

The red capped boy noticed the other's slight smile and grinned. "What did I tell you? I'm the spirit of this group. I cheer people up!" he bragged.

"As if!" Popo said giving a light punch on his shoulder.

The other boy let out a chuckle and rested his elbows on the table with his back against it. "You know… I had a bad feeling about this today. That's why I was so clingy to Lucas," Ness confessed, his tone of voice suddenly becoming melancholic. "I don't know how he could stand me. I didn't leave him alone at all and kept bugging him every two seconds."

"So you did notice you were being a pain in the ass?"

"Of course! I may be a real pain, but I do that consciously," he said with a sad smile. "I was just afraid of losing him, y'know? I guess I was just as afraid as you were with Nana. But in the end there was nothing I could do. They got him at the only time I couldn't follow him."

After Ness finished his water, the two decided to go back to the living room. The two crossed the dining room, ready to take the corridor that lead back to where the Smashers were reunited. As they were leaving the room, they young Smashers were abruptly stopped on their tracks as they noticed the shadows on the walls.

The two watched with their mouths agape as the shadows begun to leave the walls and take form of a very familiar enemy to them. Humanoid specters floated above their heads, their haunting red eyes staring at them.

"Oh, hell no! PK FIRE!" Ness shouted and launched a fire attack at one of the specters. Taking the opportunity of the enemy's confusion, Ness jumped in the air and gave it a strong kick in the stomach, sending it flying against the wall.

"What are Floows doing here?!" Popo asked as he hit another Floow with a blizzard attack.

"How should I know?!"

Their despair grew as more and more Floows begun to show up. The creatures stood close to each other, forming a thick mush green and red cloud that blocked the exit of the dining room.

"This can't be good…"

* * *

**If you guys noticed, I ended up choosing female Robin over male Robin for this story (even if the only mention of her gender was from Ness' comment). The reason I chose her was because… I wanted to. I think she's cute. There really isn't any other reason. **


	8. We are not safe anymore

Nana felt like her head was going to explode. It hurt so much that she didn't want to get up from the cold floor. Hell, she didn't even want to open her eyes. She just wanted to stay there, lying quietly on the floor and sleep for a good couple of years. Possibly for the whole eternity. Yes, that sounded like a plan.

"Nanaaa…" a clear and soothing voice sang. "Nanaaa, wake uuuup…"

"Nnggh," the girl grumbled and squinted her eyes. Who was tormenting her?

"Wake up, sleepyhead," the voice continued.

She felt a gentle hand nudge her shoulder. Nana rubbed her eyes and, with huge effort, opened them, only to find a smiling Palutena staring at her with playful green eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine! How was your nap?" she asked in a way a mother waked up her child.

"Palutena? How… OUCH!" the brunette winced as the sharp pain in her head came back. She slowly sat up, being careful to not make headache worsen. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"For three whole days! I was starting to get worried," said Palutena.

Nana's eyes shot wide open and she got up in a jolt. Three days? How could she sleep for so long? What was going on?

Noticing the desperation in the girl's face, Palutena couldn't help herself and let out a giggle. "Calm down, calm down. I was only joking," she confessed, receiving a glare of disbelief from the other. "You have been out for about five minutes."

"Don't scare me like that!" Nana exclaimed while trying to recover her breath.

"I can't make any promises, but I'll stop for now," Palutena winked at her.

Palutena got up from where she kneed and start to look around. They were still on Gerudo Valley stage, that she was sure. But the door at the left end of the stage was new to her. She didn't remember that glowing orange door from before.

"It's the exit from this place," Nana said, answering her question. "I've already seen one of those before. We used them to navigate through the territories taken over by Tabuu."

"So we are in Subspace after all, uh?"

"Even with all of the warnings, we still ended up here. I guess it really was useless…"

Palutena bit her lower lip, refusing to admit defeat. All of her secret missions with Pit had to have a payoff. They couldn't possibly have spent an entire month flying around the outskirts of Smashville for nothing. Pit had the information they had collected so far, so there was hope.

Though, Pit wasn't usually very bright. She just hoped he would pass on the information to someone smarter, at least.

"I'm sure we are not the only people caught in this. Let's go search for other Smashers," Palutena simply said and walked towards the door.

Nana followed suit, conflicted between hoping she would find Popo and not wanting to find him. She just wanted to know if he was okay. Not only him, but all of her friends too. Her stomach twisted when she thought about the possibility of having to fight off the Subspace creatures without Popo by her side. Could she do it without her other half?

"Ugh, no. Stop thinking stuff like this! You don't depend on anyone. You are a full person, get a hold on yourself!" she reprimanded herself. "Just concentrate on getting out of here and-"

"You said something?" Palutena asked, not quite understanding what the other was whispering.

"I-It's nothing, don't worry about it!"

She had Palutena by her side, so she felt a little safer. But that empty feeling refused to go away. Her grasp on her hammer tightened and she nodded to Palutena to open the door.

"Here goes nothing," the goddess muttered.

She opened the door and the two entered, ready to face whatever lied ahead of them.

* * *

Popo swung his hammer upwards and finished off one of the various Floows on the room. One down, fifty more to go. The Ice Climber clenched his teeth as two more of the ghosts floated towards him.

"Somebody help us!" Ness shouted while having to deal with five Floows at the same time. He unleashed PK Spark in order to make the specters back off the sufficient for him to escape the circle they were trapping him in. Without his bat and yo-yo, Ness would have to rely solely on his PK abilities to win.

More Floows went over the psychic boy's direction, much to his despair. Popo, noticing the unfair amount of enemies his friend was dealing with, rushed by his side in order to help him.

"Hey, is it me, or they are especially interested in you?" Popo asked.

"Guess I'm just THAT irresistible," Ness forced a chuckle, but couldn't bring himself to actually find that statement funny. In fact, the mere of thought of that probably being true terrified him.

Popo shook his head and froze his hammer, ready to unleash the Ice Hammer. As two Floows approached, his swung his weapon horizontally, breaking the ice layer once it hit the specters. Ice shards stuck on their bodies, dealing the necessary extra damage for them to disappear.

Floows looked and acted like specters, but their bodies were solid enough for attacks like those to have effect.

Another Floow came from behind them and managed to hit Ness. The boy screamed in agony as the dark pulse hit every inch of his body and paralyzed him on the spot. He could only wish they were stopped by Popo.

The Ice Climber turned around, ready to hit the creature attacking his friend, when another one got in his way and forced him to step back.

"Get out of my way!"

The Floow tried to unleash the same attack on Popo, but barely missed it. The Ice Climber used Blizzard on it and hoped to stun it, only enough to get closer to Ness. Unfortunately, while it did damage, it wasn't the sufficient for the Floow to back off. On Ness' side, the Floow assaulting him gave one final blow from the attack and sent him flying ten feet away from Popo.

Ness fell with his back to the floor. His head was spinning and his entire body hurt from the long shock of the attack. How he hated those things. Three Floows started to descend upon him, ready to unleash a second wave of attacks.

"PK Spark!" he whispered with his voice hoarse. A ball of green energy formed above him and exploded the specters. Even damaged and with their health almost on zero, they persisted. "Just go away, already! Leave me alone!"

A bead of sweat ran down from Popo's face as he switched his attention between the enemies in front of him and his fallen friend. It almost felt like they were trying to distract him from helping Ness. Since when did Floows, or any creature from Subspace for that matter, acted like a group? They all acted on instinct, attacking every living being that they found. There was no way they could be doing that on purpose.

Ness tried to make the three Floows go away with a PK Fire, but that only destroyed one of them. The other two took the opportunity to unleash another dark pulse attack at him, this time with the force doubled. He screamed at the top of his lungs, almost losing consciousness. Ness couldn't stand a chance like that. He felt his body getting stiffer and stiffer, a clear sign about what was going to happen next.

"Popo… h-help…" he whimpered.

Popo's desperation grew as he saw a golden glow involving his friend's feet. Ness was going to be transformed into a trophy. He had to go help him quick. Without being able to think properly of a strategy, he swung his hammer blindly, trying to clear out the way.

He felt completely powerless. It was such a weird sensation, that of feeling of not having the sufficient strength to help others. He couldn't even get close to Ness anymore. How he wished Nana was there at the moment more than anything. He felt completely pathetic without her.

Thankfully, help came over. At the entrance of the dining room stood Rosalina, Luma, Toon Link and Captain Falcon, all four equally horrified with the scene in front of them. Popo sighed in relief, as now they had a chance of striking back.

"What the hell?!" Captain Falcon asked, not believing in what was in front of him.

Toon Link was the first to recover from the initial shock and went straight to Popo's side. He gave a confident smile to his friend and took his Master Sword out from his sheath.

"HYIAA!" the small Hylian shouted. He unleashed a spin attack and destroyed two Floows simultaneously.

"Okay, that's it! Come on!" Captain Falcon exclaimed and went to take care of another portion of Floows forming at another part of the room.

The Floows didn't waste any time and floated towards Captain Falcon to attack him. The pilot grinned and tightened his knuckles. "Falcon Punch!" he shouted. His knuckles were on fire and he delivered a powerful punch capable of blowing off the specter in one hit.

Rosalina and Luma floated to where Ness laid on the floor and, in perfect synchronization, destroyed the couple of Floows attacking the now unconscious boy.

"Mama, is he okay?" asked Luma.

"He will be," she said gently. Rosalina bent over and lifted Ness from the floor. "Looks like he was almost transforming into a trophy."

"Take him away and bring more people to help!" Captain Falcon said without turning his head away from the group of specters.

Rosalina nodded and floated with Ness passed out in her arms towards the living room. The number of Floows seemed to be shrinking at that moment, which was very good news, especially for Popo.

Three more Smashers appeared, this time being Lucina, Marth and Greninja. The three didn't waste any time and helped on taking care of the rest of the Subspace creatures. In a few minutes, the room was completely cleared from Floows.

"What was that all about?" Lucina asked taking a good look at the now messy room.

"They were one of the Subspace creatures, Lucina," Marth answered. "But the real question is-"

"Why the fuck were Floows doing in this mansion?!" asked Captain Falcon, outraged at the invasion. He walked over to Popo. "You saw it, right? How did they get in?"

"S-Shadows…" Popo stuttered. Truth be told, even though he knew Captain Falcon was a nice guy, he was a little scared when he was angry.

"What? Speak up, man! What happened?"

"We were j-just getting back from the kitchen… and then we saw some shadows on the walls and the Floows pop out from them and…"

Toon Link put a hand on his shoulder and made a breathing motion to him, signalizing for him to breathe deeply. Popo nodded and did what he was showed. Now it wasn't the time to panic.

"Ness and I were getting back from the kitchen when we saw a lot of weird shadows coming down from the ceiling and moving on the walls. When all of a sudden they transformed into Floows and started attacking us," he explained the best way he could.

"I may be new to all of this, but I am going to presume this is not normal," said Lucina crossing her arms.

"It isn't. We never had a Subspace enemy get even close to the Mansion," the Ice Climber said. "We need to tell the others about this!"

"Don't sweat it. Rosalina prob'ly had already told what's up," Captain Falcon said waving his hand. He, along with the other Smashers there, turned around and prepared to leave.

Something still bothered Popo, though. And it had to do with the way the Floows acted during all of that fight. He wished he was just imagining things, but he still needed to tell them about it.

"I don't know if I'm going crazy, but I think those Floows were targeting Ness," he said. That caught the attention of everyone and they all turned around to listen.

"What do you mean by that, Popo?" Marth asked.

"When he got attacked by one of those things, I tried to help him, but some of the Floows only made me step back," Popo scratched the back of his head. "I felt like they were trying to distract me. All of their attacks were concentrated on Ness."

"But that's impossible!" Captain Falcon blurted out. He lowered the tone of his voice in order to not scare the kid in front of him. "Floows aren't intelligent. They can't act as a team."

"(Well, it was also impossible that this Mansion could be invaded by Subspace creatures, but look at what just happened,)" Greninja commented.

"We will leave that for discussion another time. We still need to think of a plan to help our friends stuck in Subspace and figure it out how to defend ourselves," Marth said turning around. "After all, we are not safe anymore here in the Mansion."

The atmosphere between the Smashers seemed to get tense. Popo felt his stomach twist and turn. They weren't safe anymore, but he could only imagine what Nana was going through. Not only her, but all of the other Smashers there as well.

He left the room together with the other fighters. He still needed to check on Ness and see if he was feeling alright.

* * *

Palutena casually stepped to the side and avoided the sharp beak of an Auroros that dived from the sky. The bird got stuck on the black ground and got stiff as a spear.

"These enemies are kind of pathetic, don't you think, Nana?" she asked. She then swung her staff at the Auroros and sent him flying with the impact.

"As long as you pay attention, they are. But they hurt a lot if they actually get you," Nana rubbed her back, remembering the time one of the Auroros managed to hit her with its beak.

The two Smashers have been walking around the land of Subspace for some time, yet they couldn't find anyone. Not counting Subspace creatures, that is. What was worse was that they couldn't go back to where they were. Either they explored Subspace in search for someone, or they could stay isolated in the captured Gerudo Valley stage without finding anyone.

It wouldn't be so bad if they at least knew where they we going. Walking around Subspace was like swimming in an open ocean. They had no idea where they were going and could be attacked by dangerous creatures at any moment. Were they moving forward? Or maybe backwards? Were they just walking around in circles? The two couldn't answer, it all looked the same.

"How could you guys navigate through this place? There is nothing here that serves as a reference point," Palutena asked.

"Because last time we didn't need to do any exploring. We saw Tabuu in horizon and went straight to him," Nana answered.

"What about the doors you said you used to navigate your way through? I was expecting the door at Gerudo Valley would lead us to another stage."

"Because last time Tabuu had stuck together all the territories he had captured and created one giant maze, I guess. I dunno, I was kind of expecting the same thing to happen this time."

Palutena remembered the giant sphere of light that showed Gerudo Valley inside of it, like a big snow globe. Of course, since it was isolated, there was no way they could jump into another territory. That was why they were stuck in that void. If they found another sphere like that one, they would find another captured stage.

One would think it would be easy to find them, though. That sphere shone like a star in that place filled with darkness.

"Nana? Palutena?" a voice called out. "Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"

They turned around, both relieved to hear a familiar voice. Not far away, they saw a very happy Lucas running towards them. Samus, in her electrical blue zero suit, followed him suit with a rare smile on her face.

"Lucas, Samus!" Nana said in relief and went to hug the two.

"I would say it is nice to see you again, but given the circumstances…" said Samus breaking apart from the hug.

"It's still nice to see familiar faces, though," Palutena said.

"You do have a point," the bounty huntress agreed, smiling at her.

"Anyway, did you guys find anyone else?" Nana asked.

"No, or else they would be here too," answered Lucas.

"Right, stupid question," the Ice Climber blushed from embarrassment.

Palutena asked if they had found an exit, or anything that could be considered one. The two blondes shook their heads. They had been just as lost as the goddess. They had been fighting off Subspace creatures since they had left the Nintendogs stage, so it was only natural for them to get lost after some time focusing solely on not being transformed into trophies.

Being transformed into a trophy didn't sound bad at first. In the world of Smash, Smashers could never die outside of the battlefield. Once a fighter got enough damage that could kill him or her, his or her body would be transformed into a trophy. All it required to revive them was to touch the base of the trophy and they would return fine and unharmed.

But what could happen once one was transformed into a trophy inside Subspace and there was no one to save them? A shiver would run the down the spine of any Smasher who stopped to think about the consequences of this supposed "blessing". The process of being transformed into an object also was a huge discomfort for them. The sensation of their body getting stiff, of having all of their senses being shut down was never pleasurable.

Their bodies would become their own prison, one where the only way to be freed from it was to depend on another person.

"You know what I find really, really weird?" Nana asked. The three Smashers turned their heads to her. "How come we haven't seen Tabuu yet? What's his deal?"

"He is probably hiding somewhere. Though I must admit it feels pretty rude that he didn't even bother on saying welcome. One would think he would be a better host," said Palutena ironically.

"Hiding or not, you should be grateful for this, Nana. We are not in conditions of fighting him like this," Samus hugged herself and stared at her blue spandex. "Not like this."

"What an unfortunate coincidence, uh?" said the green haired woman, also taking a good look at the other suit. "But I don't think Tabuu would be that savvy that he would know the exact moment to capture you without your Power Suit."

"I don't care, I feel naked. I never liked fighting like this," Samus then lifted her leg, showing off her heeled rocket boots. "And these are not fit for long walks at all. I'm just using them because Master Hand insisted. I'm not fit for wearing heels."

"Awwww, do you want me to carry you around so you won't feel tired, princess?" Palutena chuckled, which made Samus blush and look away.

"Stop joking, I'm being serious."

"I'm also wearing heels, if that makes you feel better," she said showing off her shoes. "So, let's share the pain together."

Nana and Lucas just listened to the whole conversation in amusement. They looked at their own shoes and thanked every single god they remembered for them wearing comfortable footwear.

"Anyway, let's go. We still need to find the others," said Samus walking off to a random direction.

Palutena, walking by her side, gestured for Nana and Lucas to follow them. The two were preparing to leave when Nana noticed some strange red blobs on the floor ahead of them. She realized immediately what it was.

"It's a Bucculus! Watch out!" she shouted and quickly pulled Lucas out of the way. As if that was a signal, a little green creature leapt off from the ground. Its body was round, with a purple bag on its behind that looked like a poisonous strawberry and big red lips filled with teeth.

The Bucculus struggled on the floor, looking like a fish out of water. If it caught Lucas, it would have sucked part of his vitality and drain his life force. But since it missed its attack, it just squished and squirmed completely defenseless.

"T-Thanks, I owe you one…" Lucas said pointing at the floor.

From his finger he unleashed his PK Love attack and destroyed the creature. The two ran over to where Samus and Palutena waited and the four continued exploring Subspace.

* * *

Kirby and Diddy Kong kicked and punched blindly the Primids around them. They have been spawning non-stop since the two young Smashers stepped out of the stage. It started with only one or two, but what looked like a simple battle soon transformed into an endurance test between Kirby and Diddy Kong and the Primids.

"Poyo, poyo! Go away!" Kirby screamed. He grabbed the nearest Primid and buried its face on the ground.

Kirby was exhausted, and by the way Diddy Kong looked, his friend also showed signs that he was losing his strength.

"Poyo, Diddy, let's run! Let's-" he was cut mid-sentence by a strong punch from one of the brawler Primids.

The puffball fell on the floor from the shock. The Primid continued kicking him, now being joined by other Primids. Diddy Kong ran over to him in order to help him, but a boomerang thrown by one of the creatures made him trip. As the monkey was getting up, a Primid sporting a super scope shoot him and made him fly a few feet away from his friend.

Now that was being ridiculous. Since when did Primids have battle strategies?

A blood chilling scream brought Diddy Kong to his senses. A faint golden glow appeared at where the puffball was, but it soon disappeared. His eyes shot wide open as he saw Kirby's trophy form lying on the floor.

"Ick!"

Diddy Kong had to help him fast. Maybe it was because he was so desperate to help his friend that he didn't see the Primid wielding a beam sword approaching. With a faint cry of defeat as the blade hit his torso, Diddy transformed into a trophy and fell on the ground.

With his mind and body shut down, Diddy Kong couldn't see the Primids dragging Kirby's trophy away.

* * *

**Whoa, now this one was fast. I just want to say I have nothing against Kirby or Diddy Kong. They just have that face that say "first victim" for me.**


	9. Rescuing and investigating

The invasion from the Floows stirred up the atmosphere at the Smash Mansion even more. Not only did the Smashers had to come up with a plan to rescue their friends from Subspace, now they had to watch their own backs. The disappearance of Master Hand and Crazy Hand also didn't make the situation better.

The Smashers discussed, argued and shouted, but in the end, no one had any idea what to do about Subspace. Some wanted to head straight into it and do like before. After all, if defeating Tabuu freed them last time, so they just needed to defeat him again and everyone would leave safe and unharmed. Others wanted to think better and search for another alternative. The more they could avoid confrontation with the lord of Subspace, the better. Because, in the end, it was charging at him mindlessly that didn't defeat him once and for all. They needed to study their enemy better and believed they would get some answers investigating the outskirts of the city, where Lucario had felt the dark aura.

In midst of all their arguing, Wario stayed quiet in the corner, formulating his own plan. Unlike the other Smashers, he already knew a way to enter and leave Subspace. He nervously tapped the badge on his pocket for the tenth time that evening, making sure it was still there. That badge was capable of transporting its holder to Subspace, but only whoever was holding it and no one else. He obviously had a huge advantage over the other Smashers.

An advantage he shouldn't have to begin with.

The plumber cursed himself for that. Not for having an advantage, but for being so stupid. He shouldn't have agreed on working for Tabuu. He should have learned that nothing good would come from that blue asshole. Yet, the false promises of money were just too much for him. He should have known he wasn't getting paid.

If the other Smashers ever found out that Wario betrayed them in exchange for money, he was done for it. But at least he apologized to Lucario, so that was something. Even if he was sure Lucario didn't understand it was an apology. Wario had to scram and hide until the storm was over. Even if he didn't know in what he had helped Tabuu with, he was sure it was something serious. That Smashball he had just handed over spelt trouble all over it. From its odd coloring and overwhelming sensation of power it had, even more than a regular Smashball, it was no wonder Tabuu needed help with that.

The fact that it was hidden in the depths of the Ruins near Smashville was also a huge red flag.

But addiction was a powerful thing, and Wario's addiction to money spoke louder. Now he was paying the price. The fat plumber looked at the tensed up Smashers in front of him. He needed to give that badge to someone. Preferably someone who would take it without asking too many questions. Or someone who wasn't fast enough to get him once he ran away.

He discarded Sonic and Captain Falcon immediately.

As his eyes fell upon a certain Smashers, he shrugged his shoulders and decided already. That would do.

While the Smashers argued in the living room, Popo and Toon Link waited for Ness to wake up in his bedroom. The pain of the last battle was still show on the psychic boy's face, making Popo wonder just how intense were the attacks from the Floows.

Ness grunted and slowly opened his eyes. "What…?" he asked in confusion. He was resting in his bedroom, instead of lying down on the dining room's floor. Seated on the other end of his bed was Popo, while Toon Link was seated on his chair with his arms rested on its top.

"You're okay!" Popo exclaimed in relief. "I mean, you are okay, right?"

"I feel like a truck ran over me ten times," Ness said. He gathered all his strength and sat up. "But I'm okay, I guess."

The memories of the Floows came to his mind and Ness shivered. As far as he remembered, Floows weren't the most aggressive of the Subspace enemies. They were very strong, most Smashers avoided them when they could, but they weren't the most aggressive. What was up with them?

"So, what happened after I got knocked out?" he asked.

"Toon Link and some other Smashers came to help and expelled them," said Popo pointing to Toon Link, who waved to him as if saying it was nothing. "Also, you should thank Rosalina for bringing you here."

"Will do."

Popo and Toon Link waited a few more minutes for Ness to recover enough so he could stand up. Once they were all set, the three Smashers left the room and headed towards the living room. To their surprise, most Smashers had already left, with only Rosalina and Luigi seated on the sofa. Luma just floated by his mother side, looking as worried as the two.

"Oh, you are awake," said Rosalina as she noticed the three boys entering. "Are you alright, Ness?"

"Sure am, ma'am," Ness said with a nod of his head. "Thanks for helping me."

"You are welcome," she smiled. "But you should be thanking your friends over there. They were the ones who took out the Floows."

Popo's expression became bitter, but no one noticed that. He wasn't strong enough on his own, so what Rosalina just said only made him feel worse. If Ness depended only on him he would be doomed. He felt weak and tired when fighting alone, which made him wonder if Nana was right after all.

It wasn't the first time he felt that feeling of exhaustion. He would feel it every time he found himself alone in the battlefield. Yet, he never fought alone for very long until he got knocked out of the stage and reunited with Nana again, so he never gave too much thought about that.

Maybe he had a problem…

"Anyway, you are probably wondering what that reunion had come to, am I correct?" the pale blonde woman asked.

"Nobody could agree on what to do," Luigi said in a tone of defeat, his head rested on his hands. "A group of Smashers is preparing to leave to go rescue the others, while others are going to stay here and do research on the Mansion's library and the outskirts of Smashville."

"Oh, really?" Popo's interest peaked. "They are going to enter Subspace just like that?"

"They are still getting ready to leave, but-a yeah," the plumber sighed. "I still think it's-a-"

"When are they leaving?" he asked enthusiastically, which made him receive shocked glares from the others.

"Wait, dude, are you serious? You wanna go with them?" Ness asked in disbelief.

"Of course I want! I need to go find Nana! You don't expect me to sit down and wait for her to return, do you?""

"Popo, please listen to us…" Rosalina tried reasoning, but was largely ignored by Popo, whose attention was focused on Ness.

"No, that's stupid! You're stupid! What do you expect to accomplish with this?!"

"I would find Nana, for once. I would know if she was alright."

Popo was taken aback by the frustrated scream that escaped from hid friend. "Would you just shut up about Nana?! I have news for you, she is a Smasher! A frigging, competent Smasher who is in the company of other frigging competent Smashers! She is not some fragile little girl just waiting for your overprotective ass to come over and sweep her away from that place!" Ness ranted, not once pausing to breathe.

"Ness, I…"

"Do you even care about the other Smashers at all?!" he asked pointing his index finger at the surprised Ice Climber. "Or are you thinking about going with this idiotic plan just because you wanna see Nana and no one else?"

"Of course I care about the other Smashers!"

"How much you wanna bet that if your sister wasn't trapped there, you would stay?"

Popo stayed silent and looked away. Those were rhetorical questions he wouldn't even bother answering.

"You know who else is stuck in there? Lucas! You know, my best friend here?" the psychic gritted his teeth. "But I'm not going to charge into Subspace like a lunatic because I know I'm going to cause more trouble for him than help him! Even if this is the thing I want to do the most!"

A tense silence fell between them. Ness was visibly shaking from nervousness and took deep breath in order to calm down. "You know what? Do what you want. I'm gonna stay and think better about what to do," he said and stormed off towards his room.

Popo stood there, completely dumbfounded at his friend's outburst. Luigi got up from the sofa and put a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. "I'm also worried about-a Mario," he said. "But I'm not-a going with the others. I don't-a believe it's the best-a choice. I want to investigate the outskirts, because we might-a find something important there that-a might help us. But that's-a what I believe."

"So what are you saying? That I should stay too?" Popo asked bitterly.

"I'm-a saying that you should do what you believe it's-a right," Luigi said. He then pointed at the exit. "Just try to decide soon, because the rescue group is leaving in a few minutes."

Popo lowered his head and let out a frustrated grunt. "Nana, please hang in there…" he whispered before running off to where Ness went.

Luigi smiled as he saw the Ice Climber leaving the room. Looks like he decided to stay in the end. He turned around and found only Rosalina and Luma seated on the sofa. "Wait, where's Toon Link?"

Rosalina looked at the exit that leaded to the entrance hall. "I think he has already decided what the right thing to do was," she said.

* * *

If there was one enemy Nana absolutely loathed it would definitely be the Shaydas. With their double blades, deadly attacks and only one glowing weak point in the center of their body, which they made sure to protect, Shaydas were one tricky enemy to deal with. Luckily, they usually attacked their opponents alone. Even when attacking in groups, it usually grouped with other Subspace creatures. It was rare to find more than four of them together.

So when a group of seven spawned right in front of Nana's group, she knew they were in trouble. The Shaydas separated and headed straight for the attack. Three targeted Samus, two decided to take care of Palutena, and the last two split up to fight Nana and Lucas each.

Nana rolled to the side and avoided the Shaydas' blade that was about to hit her head. Taking the opportunity that its red sphere in its chest was exposed, she swung her hammer and hit it with all her strength. Despite it not flinching from the attack, Nana could notice from the weak glow that the sphere now emitted that it dealt a lot of damage. What a lucky hit!

From Samus' side, however, things weren't getting that lucky. Having to fight off three Shaydas at the same time put her in a difficult situation. She couldn't even cry over for help, because everyone was already having troubles.

Clenching her teeth, Samus shot the paralyzer beam at one of the Shaydas, hoping it would make it stay still just long enough for her to finish off the other two. She turned around and used her plasma whip on the Shaydas right behind her, however, the creature used it's blades to counter her attack. She crouched just in time to avoid a powerful slash from her enemy and rolled away from the circle they were trapping her in.

As the three approached her, Samus, still on the floor and trying her best to remain calm, activated her rocket boots and kicked the closest one to her. Combined with the kick's strength, a powerful jet flame escaped from the heels, dealing enough damage to destroy the Shaydas and making Samus slide away from the group of enemies.

"Guess they aren't as useless as I thought," Samus said with a feeling of triumph on her face.

But that was no time for celebrations. She quickly got to her feet and was joined by Palutena, who managed to evade the couple of Shaydas trying to make her keep distance from the other Smashers.

From Lucas and Nana's side, the two tried to get close to each other, but the Shaydas kept slashing and forcing them to step back every time they made some progress. Lucas tried what he could to destroy his opponent, but it seemed like that Shaydas in particular wasn't going to give any opening for him to hit its weak point. What a pain to deal with.

Nana was also having some difficulties. Not because her opponent was strong or skillful, but rather because she felt exhausted. She usually was more resistant than that. She had been fighting only one Shaydas, for crying out loud!

Breathing heavily, Nana saw an opening on the two headed creature's chest and used the Squall Hammer. The Shaydas was killed and she felt a tinge of relief.

She looked over at Lucas and saw him having difficulties. That Shaydas wouldn't leave its weak point exposed by nothing. "Lucas, you need help over there?" she asked with a weak voice.

"Uh, sure. But… are you alright?" Lucas asked in concern, but not taking his eyes away from his opponent. He used his PK Freeze, only for the Shaydas to cross its blades over its chest and block the attack. "Dang it…"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me!" she said trying to not sound like she had run a marathon.

"If you are so interested in helping, how about you give us a hand over here?" Palutena asked as she countered one Shaydas' blade.

"I-I can take care of myself! Go help them!" said Lucas.

Nana weakly nodded with her head and dashed to their side with heavy steps. What was her problem? She shouldn't be this tired at this point.

"Get away from them!" she shouted and used the Squall Hammer at the closest Shaydas.

The two headed creature turned to her and approached her with its blades in a fighting stance. Nana had to step away in order to keep her distance from them. Unfortunately, that also meant distancing from Palutena and Samus. At least she was making their job on defeating the other Shaydas easier.

She took one more look at the two older women fighting. Palutena was doing the best that she could to stay close to Samus. The two stood back to back, with the bounty huntress shooting her paralyzer, while giving the green haired deity the chance to hit the shocked Shaydas with her staff.

They formed a good team, Nana had to admit. A melancholic smile appeared on her face as the two continued fighting in a synchronized fashion. If only…

"Lamenting won't take me anywhere," she whispered and tightened her grip on her hammer. "I'll find you, Popo. We'll be a team again, I promise."

Gathering all of the remaining strength she still had, Nana charged at the Shaydas.

* * *

"(Lucario, can we stop? I'm feeling tired,)" Pikachu complained. They have been wandering around Subspace for a good amount of time and he desperately needed to rest for a little bit.

"_I think resting wouldn't be a bad idea,_" Lucario said, also feeling pretty tired.

The two Pokémon sat on the floor and let out a heavy sigh. After having to fight off Subspace creatures and walk around without knowing where they were going, it was only obvious they would eventually get tired.

"(Who'd have thought Subspace was so tricky to walk around?)" Pikachu said.

"_Indeed, it is a difficult place to find yourself in. I'm sure we will eventually find someone, though."_

"(Hope so. Don't wanna stay here forever, you know? To think you guys had to go through this bef-)" the mouse stopped abruptly mid-sentence, making Lucario look at him with confused eyes.

"'_You guys'? I hope you do realize you were here before, too."_

"(Nah, I was distracted. You know what I meant,)" Pikachu shrugged his tiny shoulders. "(It just feels weird and awful to be here again.)"

Lucario only nodded, still not fully convinced. Pikachu have been acting strange, especially since they have been kidnapped. He seemed distracted, asking obvious questions about Subspace and then denying that he was ever in doubt and mostly observed his surroundings in a very curious manner, as if he had completely forgotten that he had ever been there.

"(Ahhh, I wanna meet someone soon! I'm tired of having to fight all these enemies with just the two of us! I'm SO not used to this,)" he threw his arms in the air and fell on his back on the floor.

Lucario rubbed his temples with his paws. Pikachu also has been acting considerably childish too. Not that he was an example of a mature Pokémon to begin with, but this time he seemed to be overdoing.

"_Hmmm…_"

Maybe scanning his aura wouldn't be so bad. He wasn't invading his thoughts or anything. He was only going to check up his emotional state. That was not invasive at all, he was only worried. Perhaps being in Subspace for the second time somehow messed up with his friend's brain. He needed to know what his problem was in order to help him.

A faint sound of static in the distance interrupted any plans of aura scanning he had. Lucario gave out a tired sigh and got up from the floor. He wished he could rest more, but if he stayed still, those Spaaks would electrocute him mercilessly.

"_Pikachu, get up!_ _We have company,_" Lucario ordered as he got into a fighting stance.

"(Oh, right, those… fluffy clouds,)" Pikachu said as he got on all fours. "(What horrible, horrible clouds. So scary…)"

"_Just because electricity doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts me, you don't need to make less of this situation,_" Lucario replied annoyed.

"(Heh, you're right. Electricity doesn't hurt me as much,)" the mouse smirked and used agility to avoid a jolt of electricity from one of the Spaaks. "(But what can I do if they are so cute?)"

The aura Pokémon preferred to ignore that statement and charged up an Aura Sphere. He launched it at one of the Spaaks shooting Pikachu, which made it turn grey in anger. The Spaak advanced on Lucario and launched a strong ray of electricity at the Pokémon, not giving him time to avoid it. The steel type grunted in pain and fell to his knees.

"(I take it back! You guys are not cute at all!)" Pikachu shouted, getting in between Lucario and the angry Spaak.

Pikachu jumped in the air and spun his body. His cheeks were overflowing with electricity, enough to destroy that Spaak. Giving out a cry, he hit the grey cloud with all he got and killed the Spaak, but not without suffering some backlash.

"(Ouch!)" Pikachu winced as the cloud disappeared. The little Pokémon fell on the floor and was immediately helped by Lucario.

"_What happened?_" he asked in concern.

"(Nothing… that thing managed to hit me before being destroyed. Guess I need to be careful with those electric attacks in the end,)" Pikachu let out an awkward laugh and charged at the other Spaaks.

Lucario followed him suit. That was not the time to make questions. They still had a long battle ahead of them.

* * *

"Hey, Ness. Open the door already," Popo said knocking on the door.

He waited a few seconds before he heard the doorknob clicking sound. The door opened and he was greeted by a rather surprised Ness.

"Yo," Ness said half-heartedly. "What? Weren't you going with the others?"

"I was, but apparently some big-headed jerk can't live without me," he replied sarcastically.

Ness rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "And you guys say I'm full of myself. Go get a mirror before saying anything else about me," he said.

With a bat on one hand, his backpack on his back and his yo-yo and room keys on his pocket, Ness closed the door of his room.

"So… what now?" Popo asked.

"You, Toon Link and I will go to the outskirts with the others, of course!" he then stopped to realize in what he had just said and noticed someone was missing. "Wait, where is Toon Link anyway?"

"No idea. He kind of disappeared after we had that argument."

"How much you wanna bet that fairy midget abandoned us and went with the rescue group?!" the jet haired exclaimed in frustration. While the two argued, Toon Link had probably run away with the other Smashers.

Popo didn't mind Toon Link going with the other group that much. He felt it would be a huge hypocrisy of his part to condemn his actions, considering he, himself, was planning on doing the exact same thing before. They now needed to concentrate on the outskirts and see if they could find something useful about Subspace there.

Despite all of their disagreements and arguing, Popo was sure he and Ness at least had a mutual and silent agreement on something: they didn't want to go do research at the library and die of boredom, while being suffocated by thousands of books.

The two prepared to leave to the entrance hall to see if someone was there, when a voice called over from behind them. "Oh, boys, what a wonderful timing!" Zelda said waving at them.

Popo and Ness froze in their place, which was a big mistake. By staying still, they indicate that they acknowledged princess' presence. And so, they couldn't accidentally ignore her and what, they were already assuming, terrible request she would make.

"We need more people to do research about Subspace in the library. Would you two care to join us?"

Zelda's voice showed nothing but sweetness and politeness, but the two young Smashers could only process them as a death sentence. Was there any escape?

"Actually, we were going to the outskirts with the others… Sorry…" Ness said trying his best to shake the princess' request off, without offending her.

"There are already so many Smashers going to the outskirts. Only I, Villager, Greninja, Rosalina and Luma will stay.

"B-But isn't that enough?" Popo asked.

"I am afraid it isn't. The library in this mansion is quite vast, as you can already tell."

"_I can't! I haven't stepped inside of it for years!" _was what Ness wanted to say. Instead, he just nodded with his head.

Popo knew there was no way they could refuse Zelda, so the two begrudgingly followed the oblivious princess to the library.

* * *

_If Tabuu had a face, it would be grinning at the yet another successful capture right in front of him. He gestured with his non-solid hand for the Primid carrying the Smasher trophy to place it right beside Kirby's trophy._

_So far, he managed to capture three Smashers, which he found very impressive, considering the short amount of time he had put his plan into action. If things continued that way, he would have all of them in his clutches in no time._

_It was a rather amusing situation indeed. Either his army had become exceedingly strong, or the Smashers had gotten worse. For the sake of his ego, Tabuu believed both cases were true._

_Now, if only he found an easier way to capture_ _the remaining Smashers outside of Subspace. He almost got the red-capped boy, but with so many fighters fighting off the Floows, it came to no surprise that he ended up escaping. Tabuu would deal with him later, when he was alone. For now, he would deal with the ones inside Subspace. He wondered who would be the next one to fall. _

_His bets were on the small Pokémon, or the blonde bounty huntress__._

* * *

**I was going to say who the other two captured Smashers were, but I preferred to let the suspense in the air. Even though you guys probably at least have an idea of what kind of Smashers the Subspace army is targeting.**

**Anyway, reviews are welcomed!**


	10. A strange note

**About that supposed character roster leak that happened, I noticed there were no Ice Climbers or Lucas there. I'm just going to say this again: if they happen to not make into the game, this story will automatically become an AU, because I'm not changing the whole frigging thing just so I can cut out the main characters off from it.**

**That would be silly.**

**So here I am, hoping this isn't the case, because I love the Ice Climbers and Lucas very much and they are fun characters to play as.**

**And also hoping that Dark Pit gets his own character slot. That would be great. Please and thank you, Sakurai.**

* * *

Things weren't looking good for Lucario and Pikachu. What seemed like a rather long, but easy, battle soon escalated into an endurance competition. Except the only ones in this competition were Lucario and Pikachu. The Spaaks kept coming like a swarm of bugs and didn't seem to stop for nothing. When they thought they have thinned out the number of enemies, new ones would pop out of nowhere.

However, the more he suffered damage, the more Lucario's powers grew stronger. That was an advantage he was putting to good use to protect the already exhausted Pikachu on the floor from the group of Spaaks ganging up on him. He kept shooting Aura Spheres and countering electric attacks like there was no tomorrow. It reached a point where he couldn't even stop to formulate a battle tactic and attacked out of instinc.

"(Lucario…)" Pikachu whimpered, his body trembling with effort for him to stay up. "(I-I'm sorry…)"

"_Don't be. You are doing your best,_" Lucario said while jumping in the air and kicking one of the angry Spaaks away.

Pikachu sluggishly rolled to the side to avoid a jolt of electricity. Those damn clouds wouldn't leave them alone! He was sick and tired of them. But most of all, he was sick and tired of feeling like a drag to Lucario. He needed to get rid of those things and prove he was not worthless. He was a veteran and didn't need protection!

Gathering every remaining strength he had, Pikachu ran in front of Lucario and got in the middle of the group of eight Spaaks.

"_Pikachu, what are you-" _Lucario was abruptly interrupted by the mouse's attack cry.

A grey cloud formed above them and a powerful thunder came down towards Pikachu, hitting all nearby Spaaks in the process. Lucario watched with his mouth agape as his friend took out almost every Spaak with a single attack.

"(A-And s-stay away…)" Pikachu hissed between heavy breaths.

However the effort proved to be too much, and the Pokémon fell on the floor exhausted. Lucario rushed to his side and got his friend in his arms. "_That was amazing! I never knew you could be this strong!" _he praised, yet making sure he didn't accidentally hurt the mouse full of bruises.

"(Yeah… me neither,)" he said in a meek voice. He knew he was already at his limit. That thunder attack took everything out of him.

Despite getting rid of most Spaaks, two still remained. Pikachu knew there was no escape, at least not for the two of them.

"(Lucario, leave me here and run,)" Pikachu said, struggling to get away from Lucario's grasp.

"_Have you lost your mind?! I would never do that!" _Lucario protested while letting him go.

"(Look, I don't know if you have noticed this, but these things are after me. A-And it's obvious I can't deal with another battle. Leave me here and go get help, please!)" he pleaded switching his attention between his friend and the Spaaks charging up their shots. "(Don't waste your energy on me! I'm not even worth protecting anyway!)"

"_Absolutely not! And why would they be after you?" _Lucario said charging up an Aura Sphere.

"(Because… they think I have something they are interested in,)" he said bitterly. There was a small, but awkward, pause before he continued. "(They think I-)"

The Spaaks shot their attack simultaneously. While Lucario managed to avoid their attacks, Pikachu wasn't so lucky and got hit by both of the lightning bolts. Unable to go on, the yellow mouse's body emitted a golden glow before it turned into a trophy.

Before Lucario could even process what was happening, the two Spaaks flew by him with such speed that it didn't give him time to react and lifted Pikachu's trophy from the ground. He didn't know what their intentions were, but he needed to act fast.

"_Return him at once!" _Lucarion shouted as he jumped and tried, to no avail, to hit the clouds already high up in the sky.

No matter how hard he tried, Lucario couldn't reach the Spaaks. He tried launching Aura Spheres at them, but it was also of no use, as all of them missed their targets.

"_Pikachu, no…"_

Lucario could only watch with eyes full of desperation and hopelessness his friend being taken away.

* * *

Popo returned the what seemed to be the twentieth book that day he checked back into the shelf. To think he didn't go with the rescue group to stay in the Smash Mansion reading a bunch of useless books. Information about Subspace appeared to be non-existent, if he took all the discarded books around the library into account.

His fellow Smashers weren't having any luck either. Greninja and Villager were grabbing any kind of book they found, not caring anymore if it was about the history of Smashville or culinary. Even Rosalina seemed to be losing her patience, which was a rare sight for the Ice Climber to see such a collected and calm woman fiddle between books nervously. At least Luma was trying his best to help her by getting books in higher shelves. Zelda was probably the only one who still remained calm in that situation. But Popo couldn't tell if that was the case, or if Zelda was just really good at hiding her emotions.

He sighed as he saw Ness throwing a book into the pile he had created on top of the nearest table. "At least pretend you care about them," he said. "I'm sure they weren't cheap."

"I'm not destroying or damaging them or anything," Ness pouted.

"Riiiight…"

Ness slumped over a chair and let out a heavy sigh. He was almost wishing he would have gone with the rescue party. He wasn't cut for researches and all that technical stuff Zelda loved. The more time they lost there, the more time his friends spent stuck in Subspace. At least he wasn't suffering alone. He pulled a chair for Popo to sit down.

"I hope you're happy," Popo said looking at the ceiling in utter boredom. "Sure is better than going with the rescue group."

"Look, I was not expecting being stuck in the library!" Ness replied irritated. "I thought we were going to the outskirts!"

"I hope Toon Link's doing better than us…"

There was an awkward silence between the two of them. It was obvious they were not cut for that job, so Ness and Popo felt utterly lost. They were contributing nothing to help and, the more they stayed like that, the more useless they felt.

"By the way, sorry for yelling at you…" Ness apologized out of blue.

"Where did this come from?" Popo asked raising an eyebrow.

"I… admit I kinda overreacted back there," the jet-black haired boy scratched the back of his head. "So… sorry for that."

"Oh… uh… okay then. I'm not mad or anything, so don't worry," the Ice Climber turned to him. "But why were you so mad back then?"

"Because I'm angry... Because I'm a full-time veteran and got my ass handed to those Floows like I was nothing," he said with crossed arms rested on the table. "I-If I couldn't take on a bunch of Floows, how could I help on saving Lucas and the others?"

Popo sighed and lightly punched his shoulder. "You do realize that you had almost all of them ganging up on you, right? Also, you were without your weapons."

"My weapons consist of a baseball bat and a yo-yo!"

"They are still weapons. You've been using them since forever and kicking ass as much as Link using the Master Sword, so I don't know why you're complaining about them now," Popo shrugged. "And you can be the best fighter in the world, but with that many enemies, anyone would have a hard time fighting them off."

"Still…" he dug his head between his arms even more.

Seeing Ness in that defeated state felt so surreal to Popo that the Ice Climber asked himself if that was the same Ness he had become friends with back in Melee. He would never have imagined that that defeat would mess up with his self-esteem so much.

"Boys, did you find anything yet?" Zelda's voice boomed from the second floor, making the two boys quickly get up.

"N-Not yet!" Popo replied.

They went on separate ways, as they didn't want Zelda to think they were slacking off. Ness went to do research upstairs, while Popo continued searching on the ground floor. He wished that torture section would end soon. He walked around the corridors and book shelves, occasionally grabbing one book or two that caught his attention, but they weren't of much use. He continued like that until he reached the end of one of the corridors, right next to the exit door.

A sudden loud bang on the door startled him, making Popo jump away from the door with his heart racing as fast as the Blue Falcon car. What the hell was that? He looked behind him and received curious glares from Ness and Greninja from the balcony upstairs. And one terrifying, yet innocent, curious look from the Villager who was a few meters away from him. That guy needed to stop looking at people that way.

They probably thought he was the culprit behind the noise. Letting out an annoyed gruff, the Ice Climber carefully opened the door, half-expecting more Subspace enemies and half-hoping they were at least a couple of Borboras. Even in that weakened state of his, Popo was sure he could take on the Borboras if he had to.

To his surprise, though, there was no one on the other side. That noise couldn't have been a prank pulled from another Smasher because the research group had already left, so the only remaining Smashers in the Mansion were only the ones in the library. The door was also closed to begin with, so it couldn't have been the wind.

What was even stranger was the note left on the floor right in front of him. Where did it come from? Who left that note there? Popo wondered if any of the Smashers who were going with the rescue group or to the outskirts, but there was absolutely no reason for them to be screwing around like that. He knew no one would be that stupid or mean-spirited to be pulling off pranks at a time like that. Unsure about what to think of the note, Popo picked it up and hurried to give it to Zelda.

"Princess, take a look at this!" Popo exclaimed handling the note over to her.

Zelda took it with a curious expression on her face. She might as well see what it is about, seeing how it managed to make Popo act a little livelier than before. She was starting to regret having dragged him and Ness into this research.

"Hmmm… let us take a look…" she said examining the rushed letter. Whoever wrote it, he or she sure didn't seem to care if the writing was readable. "For the love of Nayru, this is atrocious…"

"W-What does it say to be this bad?" Popo gulped.

"What…? Oh, no! I mean, the hand-writing and grammar are atrocious!" Zelda apologized and took a deep breath before continuing. "Here is what it says…"

**_Heeeey, smashers! it sucks that you guys are having to deal with all this stuff with Subspace and whatnot! but dont worry, im sure bro is thinking about you and cheering on you!_**

**_Go team smashers! … that would be what he would say. I dunno, bro works in mysterious ways, have you ever noticed that? he is such a weeeeeeeirdo_**

**_anyway, i noticed you guys are having a hard time this time around. Can't blame you, Subspace has a huuuuuge advantage that I can't say because of reasons. but seeing your hopeless faces breaks my heart, and that's no fair :( _**

**_so if you people want an extra help, i HIGHLY suggest you go check bro's office. There's a super secret room there that might help you in your quest in taking down Tabuu! what could it be there? I don't flipping know! go now and find out!_**

**_Kisses, love you guys! :)_**

**_P.S.: If you guys find Pikachu, tell him I didn't steal his ketchup. It's in the back of the fridge and that he sucks at looking out for stuff_**

"… I think this was written by Crazy Hand," Popo said, still trying to process what Zelda had just read.

"It is definitely Crazy's work," said Zelda before the sudden realization hit her. "Popo, where did you find this note?"

"I heard a loud bang on the door, opened it and then found the note on the floor," his eyes grew as he too realized what had just happened. "You think Crazy was here just now?!"

"This is getting more confusing at every moment…" the princess put a hand on her forehead, as if she was having a headache. "Why would Crazy Hand leave a note and disappear again? Where is Master Hand…?"

Popo couldn't answer any of those questions. Whatever Crazy Hand was doing, it sure seemed to cause more trouble than help their situation. And where was Master Hand after all? The note gave off the impression he was doing something about their situation. But what could it be that required him to simply disappear and not say a thing to them?

To him, it looked like Master Hand had just abandoned the Smashers.

"Uuuuugh, I wish I didn't find this note," the Ice Climber complained.

"Well, there is no crying over the spilled milk. Even with all of these new questions, it is still information," she sighed and pointed at the note. "Also, about this supposed room…"

"You think we should go check it?"

"I have a dreadful feeling about this place and about what it has to offer, yet if what the note said is the truth, we might as well go do some research there."

* * *

"I'll say… It could have been worse," Palutena said whipping away the sweat on her forehead.

"The fact that it could have been worse doesn't make this situation better," Samus remarked.

Nana and Lucas sat on the floor, completely exhausted from the fight against the Shaydas. It took a while, but they've managed to destroy every single one of them. The Ice Climber didn't know who had it harder: Lucas, who somehow managed to fight the only two Shaydas with the most absurd defenses; Samus, who was being attacked by just a little too many enemies; or herself, who, for some strange reason, seemed to have lost part of her strength and stamina.

Palutena was the only one who looked okay, which caused a small sentiment of envy to grow inside of Nana.

"I can see this battle took a lot from us," Palutena commented. "I don't think it would be wise to continue exploring Subspace in this state. We need to rest."

"How can we rest in a place like this?" Lucas asked between heavy breathes.

"We'll probably find shelter in one of the capture stages, right? Though, finding one does seem like quite the task now…" the green haired deity sighed. She had never felt this lost. It was a rather surreal feeling for her, indeed.

"It is worth a shot," said Samus looking around.

They could go either search for other Smashers or for one of the captured stages. At that point, any of those two things would be a given. They just couldn't stay in the same spot, or they were asking for another wave of attacks. Lucas got on his feet and then helped Nana get up. Both were pretty tired, but none of them wanted to slow down the other two women.

Samus and Palutena walked close together ahead, while Nana and Lucas followed them not far from behind. The blonde boy couldn't help but notice the troubled expression on his friend's face, but he knew Nana all too well that she wouldn't openly admit what was wrong near the other two women. He gently grabbed her wrist and walked in slower steps. She noticed the hint and slowed down too, in order to keep up with him.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" Lucas whispered.

"Why are you asking it?" she whispered back.

"Because when we were fighting you looked like you were on the verge of collapsing," he kept switching glances between Nana and the duo ahead of them. "And now you look so worried…"

Nana bit her lower lip and looked away. Either she wasn't very good at hiding her emotions, or Lucas didn't fully explain the extent of his psychic powers and could sense, through them, what she was feeling.

Who was she kidding? She was just that easy to read.

"Lucas, I think there's something wrong with me…" she whispered, her face getting a little closer to his.

"Well, I noticed that! Does it have to do with the fight we had just now?"

"Yeah…" she looked into his eyes. " Lucas, be sincere with me, do you think-"

Palutena whistled from where she and Samus stood, bringing the attention of the two young Smashers to them. It was only then when they noticed they had been walking way far behind from them.

"Would the two lovebirds stop flirting and stick together?" Palutena teased. Samus let out a light-hearted chuckled at that.

"Palutena, come on. Let them be," she said putting a hand on her shoulder.

Lucas immediately let go of Nana's wrist and the two blushed. "W-We're not flirting!" Nana blurted out and pointed at them. "You're the ones who are acting all lovey-dovey with each other!"

Samus pulled her hand away from the Palutena's shoulder and turned around. She didn't need to hear any more sass from a girl much younger than her. Not to mention, the Ice Climber was being utterly ridiculous for making an accusation like that. Palutena also let out an awkward chuckle and turned around, but not before signaling with her hand for the two to hurry up. Nana quickly walked towards them, while Lucas let out a sigh and took a little longer to keep up with them.

He would ask Nana later, if they got the chance to talk in private. The fact that they might get into another battle made him shiver. Even after everything he went through last time Tabuu attacked, Lucas still felt a little scared when having to fight off monsters. Sometimes, he wished he was as brave as Ness.

"As brave as Ness, uh," he thought.

He wondered how Ness was doing. Did he get captured by Subspace, also? Probably not, considering that he was at the Smash Mansion when the incident happened. Though he didn't know what other areas were engulfed by Subspace, aside from the stages. He would never say it out loud, especially to him, but Lucas was worried sick about his friend. But to find out if he was okay meant meeting him inside that maze, so Lucas could only hope Ness was alright from a distance.

He also would never say it out loud, but wanting to meet Ness again was a stronger reason for him to find a way out of Subspace than the desolated feeling he felt when wandering around that place itself. Ness could never know that, though. He would never give Lucas some rest after knowing how much he was worried.

He looked once again at Nana and realized that, just as much as he missed Ness, she was probably worried sick about Popo. How couldn't she? From all the time he had spent with those two, it was clear to him that they had a very strong bond. A bitter feeling came to him when he compared them to him and his twin, Claus. He wished he had a relationship with his brother like the one those two had.

Lucas walked faster in order to don't fall far behind the other three Smashers again. He didn't want to deal with Palutena calling for his attention with another unnecessary comment. They continued walking for a while until they've noticed a blue dot in the distance running towards them.

"Lucario, over here!" Nana shouted, waving both her arms to the Pokémon.

"_Oh, thank Arceus!_" Lucario whispered and speeded it up until he was mere feet away from the group.

The group's faces of relief fell flat once they've noticed how agitated Lucario was. He looked like he was running short of breath and his entire body was shaking. To see someone as composed and calm as Lucario in that state, they could only assume something terrible had happened. It was then when they've realized what was wrong.

"Lucario, what's happening?" Samus asked. "Why are you alone? Who was with you when the explosion caught you?"

"_T-They took Pikachu away…_" Lucario couldn't stop trembling. "_We didn't e-even stand a chance…_"

"Wait, what?! They who? Who took Pikachu away?!" the bounty huntress asked alarmed.

"_Pikachu, I am so sorry! I should have protected you better…" _he continued babbling. It was only when Samus grabbed both his shoulders and shook him back to reality that Lucario quieted down and tried to regain his senses.

A heavy and tense silence fell between them as they waited for Lucario to organize his thoughts. Nana looked away, still shocked at seeing someone like him in that state. What in the world had happened to Pikachu?

"_I apologize for my behavior,_" Lucario bowed with his head. "_It was not my intention to-"_

"We know," Samus interrupted him. "No need to apologize. But what happened?"

"_Since Pikachu and I got stuck in this place, we have been attacked by Subspace creatures nonstop. At one point, we stopped to rest, but a group of Spaaks appeared. Since we were completely exhausted from previous battles, they have managed to overpower us," _Lucario paused to take a deep breath. _"In the end, they have transformed Pikachu into a trophy and kidnapped him. It was as if I didn't exist at that point. They simply swept him away and left me alone after that."_

Samus let go of his shoulders with a pained expression on her face. Pikachu had always been a very good friend of hers. The two were an inseparable team when the Subspace incident happened back in Brawl, and to think that the little mouse was now in Tabuu's clutches just made Samus' stomach turn.

Letting out a snarl, Samus prepared to walk into a random direction when Palutena grabbed her arm, snapping her out of the urge to go search blindly for the Pokémon. "Hold it there, Samus. Walking around and looking for Pikachu like that will only cause us trouble," she said.

"Why would Tabuu want to capture Pikachu?" Samus wondered while shaking the other's hand off.

"I don't know yet, but there's actually something that Lucario had said that intrigued me," said Palutena turning to Lucario. "You mentioned that, ever since you have left the stage you were in, you have been being attacked by enemies nonstop, right?"

"_Yes. They have pushed us to our limit,_" answered Lucario.

"Why do you wanna know that, Palutena?" Nana asked.

"Let me finish asking," Palutena said raising her hand. "Samus, you said that you and Lucas have also suffered continuous attacks since you two have arrived, am I right?"

"To be honest, I think that now is probably the only time we ever had some sort of rest," said the bounty huntress.

"Well, isn't that the most curious thing?"

"_What do you mean by that, Miss Palutena?_"

"Nana, do you recall us suffering anything like a continuous wave of attacks when we first arrived and walked around Subspace?" Palutena asked.

"Oh, now that you mentioned it…" Nana said. "Not at all. We have encountered some enemies, but nothing that bad. They really didn't seem interested in us."

"How come you girls are so lucky?" Lucas asked.

"This has nothing to do with luck, Lucas," the deity said. "Now here's what I want to ask: what is there in common between the two couple of Smashers being targeted by Subspace creatures?"

The group of Smashers stopped to think. What was there? What was there about them that connected them? Since Lucario had said that the creatures left him alone once they had captured Pikachu, it was safe to say that they were after the full-time veteran, and not after Lucario. So they had to see what Pikachu, Samus and Lucas had in common.

Samus and Lucas were both blondes and Pikachu had yellow fur. But that thought alone made Lucario feel extremely silly for even considering that that had anything to do with the color yellow. What else was there? The three had, at least, one type of attack that involved electricity, though Samus' Screw Attack was a very minor case. The three were veterans too, but Lucario was also a veteran so that couldn't be the reason.

Unless…

"_Samus, how have the Subspace creatures been acting around you? Just you?" _the Pokémon asked, breaking everyone's line of thought.

"Hmmm… I do admit they have been showing some interest in fighting me," Samus said. "Even I would have trouble dealing with them if Lucas wasn't there helping me."

"Awwww, look at you being all brave and helping Samus defend herself," Nana teased Lucas, who just waved his hands in front of him as if saying it was nothing. She let out an evil grin, thinking at how fun it was to make him feel embarrassed every once in a while.

"W-Well, she looked to be in trouble," Lucas said while trying to avoid looking at Nana's face. She could be so mean sometimes. "Besides, in our first battle, there were six Primids against her, while I had about half of that number of enemies fighting me."

"_Just as I imagined. They are only after Samus," _Lucario muttered.

At that point, everyone had already an idea at what Lucario wanted to get at. The only reason why they were being continuously being assaulted by Subspace creatures was because they were near Samus and Pikachu.

"Samus, you and Pikachu are both veterans from the very first Super Smash Bros tournament, aren't you?" Palutena asked, finally coming to a conclusion.

"What? Are you saying that they are targeting only full-time veterans? Don't be ridiculous," Samus crossed her arms.

"It is the only possible explanation we have. If you have another one, please, do tell! We all would be glad to hear."

Samus opened her mouth to retort, but realized she had nothing. A dreadful feeling of danger suddenly overwhelmed her as the realization of her being a target of Tabuu and endangering all of her companions there made her shiver. She didn't want to be protected by them. She was a competent fighter, not some drag that needed to be escorted.

If only she had her Power Suit on…

She looked at the other Smashers' faces and saw them borrowing a look of pity on them. The last thing she needed was their pity.

"Don't give me that look," Samus complained, still with arms crossed tightly against her stomach. "Even if that is true, I still can take care of myself."

"We are not saying you can't! You are a full-time veteran for a reason!" Palutena said getting closer to her. "But just to be safe, let's stay close, okay?"

Samus let out an exasperated sigh, but made no attempt to push her away. As long as they didn't treat her any differently, she didn't have a problem with it. Besides, people usually kept a distance from her during the times she had spent in the Smash Mansion, most of the times because they were extra respectful to her, but also sometimes because they were afraid of her. There were some exceptions, but they were very few. So it felt rather nice knowing that Palutena didn't have any problem getting close to her.

Nana looked at Lucas, who also seemed pretty distraught. She tapped his shoulder and asked what was wrong. Only one look at his frightened green eyes was the sufficient for her to realize what troubled him.

If they were after the original Smashers, then Ness might also be in danger.

* * *

**This chapter had very few action scenes, and I'm very sorry for this. But on the bright side, I've managed to get some characterization done (I hope). **


	11. Falling into the trap

Toon Link gulped as he saw Captain Falcon take a step forward towards the big mass of dark energy. For someone who was so quick to jump into the rescue bandwagon, Toon Link suddenly felt a wave of regret. What lied ahead of him and his group was the portal to one of the most twisted and despair-inducing places they had ever gone to, so it was only natural that just looking at the massive lump of energy made a cold bead of sweat fall from his forehead.

How Captain Falcon could calmly walk towards it like it wasn't even there was beyond the young Hylian's comprehension. Maybe it was him trying to keep up his macho pose, but who was him to judge?

It was too late to turn around at that point, so Toon Link gathered all the courage he had and followed his fellow Smashers into Subspace. The group consisted of him, Captain Falcon, Fox, Charizard, Wii Fit Trainer, Donkey Kong, Sonic, Mega Man and, surprisingly enough for everyone there, Princess Peach. Toon Link had never seen the princess with such determination in her eyes.

Once he stepped in, a heavy feeling of despair overtook him, swallowing him whole as he made contact with the gateway between the two universes. The boy closed his eyes and concentrated solely on walking and breathing, trying to tune out the overwhelming sensation of depression that attacked him from all sides.

Whenever that transition took seconds or minutes, he stopped and slowly opened his eyes only when he felt his spirit lighter and that it was safe to breathe normally. A sigh of relief escaped from him as the Prism Tower, illuminating the artificial starry night sky, came into his camp of vision. It almost made him forget where exactly he was.

He looked at the empty bleachers that stood at just a little further away from the stage. They once were filed with people, or Miis, as the residents of Smashville were called, who paid to see their favorite fighters compete live. But since the incident from last tournament, live watching was strictly forbidden. Toon Link wondered if Master Hand suspected something like Subspace returning would happen again at the time. Miis couldn't survive inside of Subspace, and the ones who were caught up in it before couldn't survive being there for more than one hour.

Fox signalized for his group to follow him and opened up the orange door that stood at the far left of the stage. Those five seconds of peace were great while they lasted. One by one, they left the stage and found themselves in the sea of darkness.

"Okay, so let's recap the plan," said Fox, making everyone's attention turn to him. "We separate into three groups of three and gather as many Smashers as we can find. We search for about two hours and then meet here at the Prism Tower stage, no matter if we have found someone or not."

"(And once we find everyone, we go rip Tabuu to shreds and get out of this place!)" Charizard added.

"How are we going to find our way back?" Wii Fit Trainer asked. "There is nothing in this place that can serve as a reference point."

"We leave a trail so we can find our way," Fox said showing off three bags he brought with him. "We use this to create a path back."

"That sounds really lame," Sonic complained.

"We don't have another option, Sonic, Deal with it," Fox replied in an irritated tone.

The Smashers divided into three groups, just like Fox had said. Toon Link ended up grouping with Donkey Kong and Sonic. Fox grouped with Captain Falcon and Wii Fit Trainer, while Charizard, Peach and Mega Man formed the last trio. After everything was set, they went on separate ways.

Toon Link followed Sonic and Donkey Kong around for some time, being careful to no forget to drop a few pebbles on the floor every once in a while. The cold and hard ground soil had some shiny lining on them, which served as one of the light sources of that desolated place, so all Toon Link had to do was to put some pebble near the lines that they would create some sort of visible path. Not the most visible one, but enough to orient them. All he had to do was pay close attention, and they might get back to the stage safe.

As soon as the other two groups were completely out of their camp of vision, Toon Link, Sonic and Donkey Kong found themselves suffering an ambush from a bunch of Spaaks and Feyeshes that descended from the skies. It happened all so fast, that Toon Link wondered how they couldn't have seen them coming.

"What? So they don't even let us walk around for a while before attacking us?" Sonic asked sarcastically. "Why do they always have to be so rude?"

Toon Link tiredly put the bag of pebbles on the floor and unsheathed his sword. He went with the rescue group expecting to go through a couple of battles against Subspace creatures; there was no doubt about it, yet he did not expect them to happen that early. What a timed coincidence that they decided to appear right after the Smashers separated.

"Yeah, I'll show you!" Sonic shouted as he jumped into the air and tackled the closest Fisheye to him.

Toon Link furrowed his thick eyebrows as the Spaaks and Feyeshes went after Donkey Kong and rushed to help him. He would not let another friend suffer what Ness had to go through.

* * *

"**(Because… they think I have something they are interested in,)" he said bitterly. There was a small, but awkward, pause before he continued. "(They think I-)" **

Lucario kept repeating that scene in his mind as he walked with the group of Smashers. It was already established that the Subspace army was after the Original 12, so Pikachu was trying to warn him about that fact. He had outright said it to him during their battle with the Spaaks!

"**(Look, I don't know if you have noticed this, but these things are after me.)"**

How did Pikachu notice that so quickly? Even Samus, who was also the victim of target attacks, took her time to realize what was going on with the Subspace creatures. Unless Pikachu knew everything beforehand. But that raised all sorts of questions that Lucario couldn't answer.

He wouldn't tell what Pikachu had said to the others. Not yet, as he still needed to figure it out what to make of the situation. So he just kept quietly walking behind his group.

"Palutenaaaa," Nana whined. "Didn't you say you could talk to Pit telepathically? Why don't you do this?"

"I would, if it was possible," Palutena answered bitterly. "You think I didn't try this before? When you guys entered Subspace when Super Smash Bros Brawl happened, I lost contact with him back then. And now I can't talk to him either."

"So, Subspace is kind of a soundproof wall to your telepathic communication?"

"In a way, pretty much."

Nana felt frustrated, but she wouldn't press the issue further, mostly because Palutena seemed genuinely upset about not being able to talk to Pit. She didn't want to sound too whiny and irritate the goddess. Besides, they hadn't been attacked since their battle with the Shaydas, so she was more grateful for that moment of rest than anything.

Now, if only Lucas could calm down as well. He fidgeted his hands nervously and had his eyes glued on his feet. Nana didn't know what to say to make him that could comfort him, so she hoped that being by his side made him feel a little better. It looked like it was working for Samus with Palutena, after all. Samus, while still alert, seemed to be more relaxed and open with Palutena talking to her. Which was great, considering her current situation.

The group had reached the end of a cliff. They all cautiously looked into the abyss ahead of them and saw nothing but darkness. "I guess this is a dead end, then," Palutena commented. She wished she had a rock, so she could throw it and calculate how long the fall would be. The fact that she couldn't see the ground already gave her an idea, though.

They all turned around; however, as soon as they prepared to walk away, a rain of shadow bugs fell from the sky. The five Smashers watched in horror the shadow bugs, as soon as they touched the ground, begun to group and take shape of various enemies. Primids, some carrying swords, while others raised their bare fists, Autolances and even the terrible Greap appeared. To make the situation worse, some Trowlons descended from the skies.

Nana's eyes didn't know where to focus her attention on. From the Primids haunting red eyes, to the Greap's enormous sickle arms, she knew that the upcoming fight would be worse than the one with the Shaydas. She apprehensively tightened the grip on her hammer as the Subspace army approached her group. Nana stepped back, but stopped stiff as she felt her feet touch the very edge of the cliff.

If only they were a few meters away from there…

"We need to get rid of the Greap first," Samus ordered as she prepared her paralyzer gun. "Let's go!"

Palutena nodded and the two women ran towards the Greap, evading the enemies on their way. Lucario ran up to the group of Autolances and dodged the lances they shot, while he charged up Aura Spheres. Lucas stayed put and used his PK Thunder and PK Fire attacks to clear out some of the enemies.

Nana ran towards one of the Primids, ready to hit it with her Squall Hammer attack, but calculated her timing wrong and got hit with a combo of punches and kicks that sent her flying back to where she was, closer to the edge of the cliff.

"Ow…" she whimpered as she prepared to get back to her feet.

Before she had time to react, a Trowlon dived in and used its triangular head to throw Nana into the air. Hurt and confused, the Ice Climber landed like a ragdoll on the creature's flat, carpet-like back. The Trowlon quickly floated up in the air with Nana on its back and headed towards the end of the cliff.

"Hey, hey, heeeey! Put me down!" Nana screamed. She looked down and saw the sea of black mist. "Never mind, never mind! DON'T DROP ME!"

Lucas turned around as he heard his friend's screams. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the Trowlon do a barrel roll and drop Nana into the abyss.

"AAAHHHH!"

"NANA!" the boy shouted.

Without thinking for one second, Lucas jumped of the cliff and dived in to try to save his friend. He could hear the horrified screams from Lucario, Samus and Palutena, but right now, he needed to grab Nana's hand and figure out a way of landing both of them to safety. He stretched his arm as much as he could and managed to catch the desperate girl's hand.

"Nana, call upon one of those orange condors!" he pleaded as he brought her closer to him.

"B-But that attack works only on t-the battlefield!" she stuttered in fear.

"Okay, let me try something then… I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do…"

Lucas hoped it would work, or else, the two would make a very unpleasant contact with the already visible ground below them. And he'd better time it right, as the two were just a few dozens of feet away from the floor. He waited a couple of seconds, brought her closer to him in a hug and put his plan into action. "PK THUNDER!" he shouted.

Nana's entire body paralyzed as electricity surrounded her friend's body. She couldn't even make out what he was trying to do, it was like her rationality has also paralyzed with the shock. A ball of electric energy was shot, made a half-moon turn and hit the two from below. Nana could feel her body painfully being trusted upwards in reaction to the impact, before she started to fall again. They both landed on the ground and, while painful, they didn't hit hard enough to cause any serious injuries.

"Ouch… Sorry about that, Nana. It was the only thing I could think of," Lucas apologized, still holding her in his arms. "You alright?"

"I'll live," she said, still sore from the thunder attack and the fall. "Is that what you feel every time you recovered back to the stage in a battle?"

"No, I never got hurt with my own PK Thunder," he explained. "That's why I said I was sorry. In the end, I only ended up hurting you."

"Like I said, I'll live," she said with a cocky smile. "I've got a lot of problems right now, but one lousy PK Thunder isn't one of them."

Lucas let go of her and got up with sore muscles. He then helped Nana getting up, as he could still see the remaining pain on her face. The two young Smashers looked around them for a bit, not quite sure about what to do. The battle cries from Samus, Palutena and Lucario could be heard from above, but a thick dark fog not far above them covered whatever vision they could have from the battle between them and the Subspace army.

"Hey, guys! We are okay, Lucas saved us both!" Nana shouted towards the sky. "How are things going up there?"

From above, the three fighters we're in quite the distress and couldn't hear very well. Lucario was the only one who could figure it out that it was Nana the one who was talking. "_I have just heard Nana's voice. It seems they have landed and are fine,_" he said while dodging an Autolance.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Palutena sighed in relief.

She saw one of the Primids charging up at a very tired Samus with a beam sword, and quickly got in the way. The beam sword hit her stomach and made her flinch, but gave enough time for Samus to punch and kick the Primid away from them.

"Stop using yourself as a shield!" Samus scolded. To see Palutena hurt herself at the cost of trying to protect her was beyond distressing for the bounty huntress.

"I'll live," Palutena gave out a sheepish smile, trying to cover up the pain she felt in her stomach. "Lucario, talk to Nana and Lucas and tell them to not worry about us."

The Pokémon nodded and turned his attention to the abyss. "_Lucas, Nana, we will handle the enemies here. Try to find your way back, if possible. If not, go search for other Smashers and tell them about our situation!" _he ordered. With that dark mist separating the two groups, he hoped his message had reached her ears and mind.

Thankfully, it did. He heard the Ice Climber agree with him and then went back to fighting off the Trowlons and Autolances.

"Guess it's just us now," Nana said bitterly. She picked up her wooden hammer that landed not far away from them from the ground, grateful that it was still in one piece.

The two friends walked near the stone wall by their side, as it was the only indication they were near Samus, Palutena and Lucario. But how long it was and how much it would take them to find a way upwards was another story. Nana wished one of those Trowlons descended from the skies and picked them up, but that was asking too much.

They walked in complete and utter silence, both not sure about what to say. They weren't worried about what might happen to them, but about what could happen to Samus, Palutena and Lucario, Especially Samus, if their theory was correct. In fact, maybe it was because of that theory that both felt a little safer, even if they were still inside Subspace.

In that brief moment of peace, Lucas wanted to take the opportunity to ask Nana about what she wanted to say back then. He would be lying to himself if he said that he wanted to know the answer solely because he was worried. Part of it was because of morbid curiosity, but that was a detail he would never tell her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Lucas, stop being so worried about me," Nana said. "I'm not even in pain anymore. Your PK Thunder-"

"I mean, about what we were talking, before Palutena interrupted us."

"Oh… that, right."

Nana looked away and became silent. She was so certain about talking with him before, yet now that she had plenty of time to think about it, she had no idea how to explain her problems to Lucas. How could she explain that she might be physically and emotionally dependent on her brother? Lucas wouldn't understand, and quite possibly think she was going nuts. She would think that too, if it wasn't happening to her.

She was hurt and was beyond stressed. Babbling about nonsensical things would only stress her more and add another issue to the pile. She sure didn't need that.

"I don't feel like talking now," she mumbled, still avoiding eye contact. "Besides, you shouldn't worry."

"You said you think there's something wrong with you, and now you're trying to avoid talking about it," he said. "I'm asking this because I'm your friend and I do worry. I can see you're tired, and it's not just because we have been fighting without taking a break."

"I'm not avoiding anything!" she protested.

"Then what are you doing?"

"I…" she paused and tried to find the right words. "I want to talk to you, but I don't know how to explain the problem. Just let me think better, and I promise I'll tell you everything, okay?"

"You promise? This isn't some cheap excuse to not talk?"

"I promise," she said giving him a light punch on his shoulder. "You know I can count on you."

Her words seemed sincere enough, so Lucas nodded with his head and let go of the topic for the moment.

They continued walking, hoping that would take them anywhere. However, something in the distance, at the opposite direction, caught Lucas' attention. There was group of Primids marching very close to one another in the distance. But what really caught his attention was the sight of Link's trophy being carried by them, like he was some hunting prize.

Lucas quickly tapped Nana's shoulder and pointed at the Primids' direction. The girl's dark eyes widened as she too saw the scene happening a couple dozens of feet away from them.

"We need to save him!" she whispered.

"B-But what about Samus, Palutena and Lucario?" he asked, also whispering. It was better that the Primids didn't notice them there, so their voices would have to remain low.

"They, at least, have each other and are still alive… I hope," she gulped. "But if Link's like this, then I'm pretty sure his partner is also in trouble."

Lucas let out a nervous nod. "Alright, let's go help him, then…" he said, still a little uncertain. He felt extremely guilty for abandoning Samus and the others, but Nana was right. Link, at that moment, needed their help more than anything.

Nana and Lucas walked as fast and as silently as they could, not wanting to lose the element of surprise. Nana's grip on her hammer tightened and Lucas fingers were sparking with energy as he readied his deadly PK Alpha Love attack. But as they got closer, something made the Primids stop, all of them at the same time. They stopped as well, not sure what to make of that.

Their eyes grew wide as they saw a purple door surrounded by a blue glow materialize right in front of the Primids. It was grander than the doors they usually found in the maze of captured worlds that they had explored before. They held their breaths as it slowly opened, revealing only a swirling vortex from the inside.

"Let's go before it closes," Nana said as she took Lucas' hand.

"Wait, you're not seriously thinking…" Lucas couldn't finish his sentence and got pulled by the determined Ice Climber.

Lucas felt hesitant and scared. He wanted to help Link, and possibly any other Smasher that stood at the other side of that door. But what if Tabuu was there on the other side? He couldn't help but shiver at the thought of Tabuu staring down at them with his hollow and cold eyes.

He couldn't help but feel that Nana was dragging them both to their doom.

* * *

"_Why, this is getting way too easy," Tabuu thought in delight as the Primids displayed the captured trophy of Captain Falcon to him. He pointed at Yoshi's trophy, and the Primids obediently placed the trophy by its side._

_He couldn't believe in his luck. One thing was capturing the Smashers inside his domains. The other was trying to fight them in their realm. To have the Smashers walk right into the place where they were at disadvantage was just too much for the lord of Subspace. How much stupider they could get?_

_He went back into staring at the endless void ahead of him and clouds displaying various scenes occurring begun to form. Being an omniscient entity had its perks. It was very easy to keep track of the Smashers when they were inside his realm._

_The huntress seemed to be at her limit. The ape still had the fight going strong, but Tabuu knew even him would have problems keeping up with that may enemies. He let out a sneer as he saw the ape's hedgehog friend get shot by one of the Primids. Served the asshole hedgehog that broke his wings right._

_With fewer fighters at the outside world, maybe it was time to send out more of his troops to try and capture the remaining targets. The ones inside of Subspace didn't require much effort, apparently. After all, in a few seconds he would have the blonde Hylian warrior in his hands. Not only him, but two other guests as well. _

_He would get a hold on those two and keep them for a while. They might be useful._

* * *

**No Popo and Ness for this chapter, sorry****.**** This one ended up short, but I promise the next one is going to be big. I want to focus the next chapter on them and their group, so I didn't want to try and squish their scenes into this chapter. **

**Also, I really fear for the Ice Climbers situation in this new game. At least I'm sure Ness will be in. =/**


	12. The return of those who didn't go

**WELL THEN! Ice Climbers and Lucas were completely cut from the new Super Smash Bros. I'm dying a little on the inside. But what makes me happy is that all the newcomers are wonderful and the game looks as beautiful as ever.**

**Dark Pit is his own character and that makes me very pleased, even if the vast majority of the fanbase isn't. 3 Also, Duck Hunt Dog. I can't believe that I'm excited to fight as a character I hate so much.**

**Oh well, this is officially an AU after all. I'm not going to include Alph and all of the seven Koopalings, because they are alternate characters, just like I didn't include female Villager, male Wii Fit Trainer and male Robin.**

* * *

"Pit, are you sure we are going to the right place?" Shulk asked.

"From all the stuff Lady Palutena had gathered, I think we are," the angel said as he flipped the pages from Palutena's notebook. He thanked his goddess for drawing the map and crossing the places they have checked, or else, he would be completely lost in her notes. Someday he would still learn how to read.

"You think?!" Bowser roared, making Pit jump back from surprise. "Can't you be a little more precise, chicken brain?!"

"Chicken brain?!"

"Pit is doing his best to help us out," Lucina jumped in to defend him. "Don't forget that he and Palutena are the ones who had been scanning the area in order to find the source of evil Lucario had felt. What have you been doing this entire time?"

Bowser let out a puff of smoke from his nostrils, but didn't retort. He was tired of walking and couldn't wait until they have reached their destination. According to the brunette angel, he and Palutena had checked pretty much every corner of the outskirts, except for the extreme west, which was located at the exact opposite of where the Smash Mansion was located, at the extreme east of the outskirts of Smashville.

Despite Smashville being a relatively small city, it still would take a couple of hours of walking until they reached the other side of town. With the stages engulfed in the darkness of Subspace, and because of the possibility of the creatures roaming around the city, all of the Miis were staying at home, so no services were available and the Smashers had to walk on foot. So far, the Smashers hadn't encountered many Subspace creatures, and the very few ones they did, they destroyed them in a second.

While Bowser seemed to be calming down, Lucina's retort appeared to have hit a nerve of his son, Bowser Jr. The young Koopa rushed from where he was, using his Junior Clown Car, to confront Lucina looking straight into her blue eyes.

"Don't talk to my papa like this, you ugly lady!" he snarled, huffing a hot breath on her face. "You're lucky he won't shred you into little pieces!"

"Ugly lady?!" Lucina asked, more baffled at the response than angry.

"Junior, don't you even start anything! Save your energy for something more useful," Bowser scolded his son.

Junior gave one last glare at Lucina before floating back to his father's side. Pit released the breath he held as he saw the confrontation being dissipated before it even started. A fight between themselves was one the least things they needed at the moment. As if it wasn't bad enough that they might suffer a massive attack from the Subspace army.

Pit wished they would arrive soon at the outskirts, as part of him wanted to soon reunite with Lady Palutena, and the other part of him wanted his group to stop bickering at each other. Bowser Junior was even more of a trouble maker than his father, if that was even possible, and would make snide commentaries whenever possible. Some would let them slide, some wouldn't, such as Little Mac, who was a huge hothead and was on the verge of punching the lights out of the young Koopa.

Jigglypuff also wouldn't stop complaining, which was making Sheik, Ganondorf and Dark Pit lose their patience with her. Pit guessed that most of her complaining was about how far their destination was. At least, the mutual disdain for Jigglypuff's childish behavior had dissipated the tense atmosphere between Sheik and Ganondorf.

"I can't stand Jigglypuff anymore! Are you sure we are going to the right place?" Dark Pit asked. He got closer to Pit's side and analyzed Palutena's notebook, squinting his magenta eyes at the notes in confusion. "I can't read this for shit," he whispered with a bitter face.

"Shhh, concentrate on the drawings, ignore the letters," Pit whispered back, feeling sympathy for his not-exactly-evil counterpart.

Dark Pit let out an annoyed grunt and looked away, while Pit smiled at him. In the past, he and Pittoo, as he and Lady Palutena called him, much to the other annoyance, used to have many feuds and he was certain that Pittoo wished nothing but to see him dead. Yet now, to see him, walking by his side and actually not trying to kill him, was something Pit wouldn't even dream of a few years ago.

If people didn't know any better, they could almost be mistaken for brothers. To the white angel, in a way, they were, and that was a thought that made Pit feel a little happier and less lonely inside. Though, he was certain that if he ever mentioned that to his counterpart, he would receive a smack in the head.

The angel could see the border of the city very far away and his face lightened up. They were close.

* * *

Zelda stood in the middle of the small circle of Smashers in the ground floor of the library, looking each and every one of them in the eye. Popo found it kind of impressive how calm she could be as she was about to announce their next plan. He wondered how people could still call her princess, instead of the more appropriate title of Queen.

Everyone was in utter silence as she explained about the note written by Crazy Hand that Popo had found thrown at the floor and what it was in it. She suggested that they should interrupt their research for a few minutes in order to investigate Master Hand's office, which was met with unanimous agreements from her tired companions. Ness and Popo seemed especially happy about the brief interruption.

"Everyone, stay close and don't separate from each other. We need to be fast."

The group silently and cautiously left the library, heading towards Master Hand's office. A tense silence took over them as they walked in unsure steps through the large corridors of the mansion, ready to fight off even the slightest shadow that they deemed strange. Even if they were in a fairly large number, they couldn't let their guards down.

The light of the late afternoon passed through the windows, making Zelda wonder how long would it take for the investigation group to return. She wasn't very fond of the idea of them spending the night out there, searching for some source of an evil aura. But it didn't matter what she thought, all she could do was pray for them to return safely.

They reached the office's door, but it was locked. The group pondered wherever they should break in or not, until Villager took out an ax and destroyed the lock with it. He innocently opened the office and entered, ignoring the baffled glares from the others. Their shock didn't last long and they awkwardly followed him suit. The Smashers split up and started searching for something that could serve as a clue to the "super secret room" that Crazy Hand mentioned in the note. Popo sincerely hoped the chaotic hand wasn't just screwing around with them.

It wasn't a very big office, so their search wouldn't take long, but every minute they wasted without getting any information about Subspace, was a minute where their friends and family spent trapped.

Rosalina, Luma and Ness decided to watch the entrance, so they wouldn't be attacked by surprise, while Zelda, Popo, Villager and Greninja searched the office. The four Smashers looked everywhere for some sort of clue, be it a hidden door under the carpet, a secret button inside the desk's drawers or some book that opened some kind of entrance on the bookshelves.

"I've found a book here that might interest you," Villager said showing off a book with a hard maroon cover. The title was written in delicate golden letters and said "Notes about the history of the Smash Universe". "It may not be about Subspace, but I did find it inside one of the drawers, so I guess it's important."

"Keep it, Villager. I shall read this after we are done here," Zelda said as she tapped the walls in order to see if any of them echoed.

Popo continued searching through the bookshelves and archives that covered almost the whole wall at the left side of the room, until he noticed a familiar shadow being cast down on him. He looked up and saw Greninja on all fours on top of the bookshelf, all while acting like a child playing spy. He looked at every way with attentive eyes, which made Popo all the more confused.

"Greninja, stop slacking off and help us," Popo said and continued looking through the books. He couldn't help but feel a hint of irony that he left the library, just to search more books. It didn't hurt to try, though. If Master Hand was an old-fashioned guy, the secret door would only open if one book in particular was removed.

"(I'm not slacking off,)" Greninja replied, deeply offended. "(I'm using my head, thank you very much.)"

Popo titled his head to the side as he saw Greninja jump off from one mobile to another. What could he want from doing that? His confusion only grew bigger as the water/dark-type Pokémon looked at something at the wall in delight. From where Popo was standing, he couldn't see anything, but from the other's reaction, it better had to be something good.

"(The masterful ninja Greninja helps once again!)" he exclaimed as he pushed a small, barely noticeable button on the left corner of the mobile.

A buzz sound resonated through the room, with the four Smashers looked around, trying to make out from where it was coming from. Greninja, with his never ending grin behind his tongue wrapped around his neck like a scarf, got off from the bookshelves and pointed at the carpet near the couple of couches that were close to the entrance. Letting out a nod, Popo lifted the carpet and his dark eyes widened in surprise.

Under the carpet, there was a big, rectangular entrance, with stairs that led down to a pitch black room. "Okay, so you weren't fooling around," was the only thing Popo could say, not taking his eyes from the secret passage.

"(No doy,)" the Pokémon replied cheerfully.

"Guys, come here and see this!" Villager exclaimed at the three Smashers outside.

Rosalina, Luma and Ness entered the room in order to see what the commotion was all about. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the passage right in front of them. How could Master Hand have hidden something like that for so long?

"We have no time to stand here in bewilderment," Zelda said as she took the lead started to walk down the stairs. "Let us move forward. We still have very much to do."

One by one, the Smashers followed the princess in a line. The stairs were large enough for two people to walk side by side, but nobody paid much attention to that. Especially because they could hardly see what was in front of them. Zelda used some of her fire magic in order to help orient them, but it could do so much before Villager accidentally tripped, dragging Popo, Ness and Zelda together with him.

The four rolled down the stairs like a snowball, completely disoriented because of the lack of light. Luckily for them, they were already very close to the ground, so none of them had any serious injuries on their bodies. Except on, maybe, their dignity.

"Ouch, Villager! What the hell, dude?!" Ness complained as he struggled to get Popo off from him.

"Sorry, I tripped on my foot…" Villager apologized. He was lucky nobody could see his red face, or else, they would mistake it for a tomato.

"A-Accidents h-happen," Zelda stuttered in embarrassment as she quickly got up, fixing her dress. Thank Nayru for the current darkness they were in. "I ask you to be more careful from now on, though."

"I will."

"Are you alright down there?" Rosalina asked in concern. She, Luma and Greninja were behind Villager, so none of them suffered anything.

"Yeah, we are," Popo answered, already up and trying to figure it out where they were. "Are there any switches around here? Or Master Hand doesn't need any light when coming here?"

"I sure hope there are," Zelda muttered as her hand glowed with fire magic once more. "Stay still, I shall handle this."

The princess waved her hand around, being careful to not hit any of the boys, and started to search for a switch. She tapped the nearest wall, next to the stairs, but there was no sign of a switch. It was probably at the other side.

As Zelda turned around in order to check the other wall, she could swear she saw some figures standing at the other side of the room. A cold bead of sweat ran down from her forehead and her heart begun to beat at an incredible speed. Since the light of the fire was weak, she couldn't make out what exactly were those presences at the room. She pointed her glowing hand at where she thought she saw the presence, but quickly retrieved it as an unidentified face appeared in her camp of vision.

They weren't alone.

Were they Primids? No, the Primids emitted a faint grumbling sound, no matter how quiet they tried to be. The only sound she could hear in that room was her own heavy, tense breath and the concerned asks from her fellow Smashers. It couldn't be any other Subspace creature, as none of them had the habit of attacking quietly. Perhaps the Shaydas and Floows, but even those entities didn't just keep observing from afar. Also, none of them matched the shape of that face.

She pointed her hand once more at its direction. It still didn't move from its spot. That didn't make Zelda feel any better.

Whatever it wanted, Zelda made sure to find that switch as fast as she could. She held her breath as she had finally found one. She dissipated the fire in her hand and looked in the direction of the strange presence, without even bothering on announcing she was about to turn on the lights.

"Princess, what's wrong with-" Popo was interrupted all of the lamps on the roof turned on, bathing the room in a strong white light.

The Smashers squinted their eyes, trying to adjust now to the clarity. The room was almost as big as Master Hand's office and it was oval shaped. The walls were entirely white and had no mobiles or any décor, save for the air vents that saved the room from being a muffled hell. The floor was made of marble, with the Smash symbol engraved on it.

As her vision was getting adjusted, Zelda quickly looked at where the strangers were. "W-W-What…?" she stuttered. At that point, she feared that her heart might stop at any moment. She expected anything, any kind of new enemy that was about to throw themselves at them. Yet, she wasn't prepared for what lied ahead of them. None of the Smashers were.

A gasp of surprise escaped from Rosalina, while Greninja and Villager looked at the sight ahead of them in utter confusion. Popo and Ness were so shocked that all they could do was stare in silence, a mixture of confusion, despair and anger welling up inside them.

Ahead of them lied a group of trophies, all organized in an orderly circle. Those were trophies of Smashers that had participated on previous tournaments. Trophies of Smashers that Master Hand had said that returned home, because they said they couldn't participate anymore due to issues back at their homes. Trophies of their friends, who they missed so much and hoped were okay.

Everything they thought they knew had suffered a huge blow and now only doubt and shocked occupied their minds. Retired Melee and Brawl veterans, two types of fighters who had never even interacted before, stood close to one another. Roy, Young Link, Mewtwo, Pichu, Snake, Wolf, Red, Squirtle and Ivysaur, they were all there.

"I don't understand," Villager whispered. "Are they fighters as well?"

"Argh, WHAT THE HELL!" Ness let out a cry of frustration. "Master Hand told us they were back at their homes! What the fuck are they doing HERE, of all places?!"

Nobody could answer. Nobody couldn't even react properly to such a discovery. Be it from the veterans, who silently tried to digest what their trophies being there meant, to the newcomers, who were more concerned for the veterans' confusion than the trophies in the room.

A lump formed in Popo's throat as he saw Ness angrily walking towards the trophies and started to tap their bases, in order to bring them back to life. To see those Smashers there, collecting dust like lifeless objects, was a truly terrifying sight.

He remembered that one time Master Hand was seriously considering in kicking both him and Nana from the new tournament, only to change his mind later on. He and Nana could be there right now, trapped inside their own bodies, if Master Hand had stick to that idea. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought of them suffering the same fate as those Smashers crossed his mind.

It almost made him thank Master Hand for just deciding to separate them instead.

"Don't just stand there! Help me out here!" Ness ordered as he tapped Young Link's trophy base.

Snapping out of their confusion, the rest of the group started to revive the trophies. The glow the trophies emitted was so strong it was almost unnecessary to keep the lights turned on. One by one, the Melee and Brawl veterans awakened from their slumber.

"Whoa, okay, that was weird," Red commented as he stretched his back. "Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard, how are you guys feeling?"

Squirtle and Ivysaur yawned simultaneously, but soon perked up and went by their trainer's side. Red kneed down to pet his Pokémon, glad that they were okay. But Charizard was missing, which made Red tilt his head in confusion and look around for him. It was only then when he noticed all of the other Smashers in the room.

"Wait, what are you people doing here?" he asked. "Didn't I just go back to Kanto? Where's Charizard?"

"Kanto? Who even are you?" Roy asked. "What is going on? I thought I was going back home?"

"Ugh, my head…" Snake rubbed the back of his head in pain. "It hurts like a bitch…"

"(Hey, who are all of these guys?)" Greninja asked, only to receive a curious glare from Mewtwo and Red. "(Are you two Pokémon and trainer?)"

"_What a curious species of Pokémon,_" Mewtwo muttered.

Popo could only watch, not sure about what emotion to feel, as the three generation of Smashers clashed and gave no signs of calming down so soon.

"Nana and I could have been there," he thought bitterly.

His mind went back to Nana. How would she react in this situation? She would probably freak out; it was very much like her. What if Master Hand decided to quick out only one of them? How would the other react? Those were questions Popo didn't want to think about.

"Hey, why am I still in the mansion?"

"Which part of the mansion is this?"

"Who are you guys?"

"Why am I here?"

The questions got louder, and the confusion grew to such degrees, that the veterans were almost jumping at each other's throats. They were completely lost, so it was only natural for them to become more aggressive. Wolf and Roy, for some reason, just started exchanging insults. Mewtwo couldn't stop feeling annoyed by Red's clear desire in his eyes to capture him and have him on his team. Squirtle and Ivysaur couldn't stop screaming, probably calling out for Charizard, all while irritating Villager, who had a firm grip on his ax.

A physical fight was bound to happen. However, Zelda would have none of that.

"ENOUGH!" the Hylian princess yelled, bringing everyone's attention to her.

"Z-Zelda…" was all Roy could say.

"I am aware that you are all confused. I do not know any better about what is happening either," she said, her voice filled with authority. "But I will not admit this mess to continue. We shall discuss this situation, IN PEACE, upstairs. I do not want to hear a single word until we reach the living room. Do I make myself clear enough?"

"But-"

"NO BUTS!"

There were a few grunts here and there, but everyone nodded. Zelda turned around and walked upstairs, being followed by the rest of the Smashers. If there was one person they did not dare to defy was Zelda, especially when she was mad.

Popo was the last one to leave, until he noticed a small note on the floor. Curious, he picked it up and read:

"_**Brother is a big, cheating, liar :)**_"

He felt a twist in his stomach, enough for him to drop the note and want to get out of that room as fast as he could. What did Crazy Hand think he would accomplish with that? Popo sincerely doubted he told about that room to them because he wanted to help. Not after seeing this note. Popo was completely lost, he didn't know anything. He didn't know how Subspace returned and how to save his sister from being trapped there. He didn't know what the Melee and Brawl veterans were doing locked up in that room. He didn't know what Crazy Hand was planning behind them.

How he wished Nana was there. Not because he knew she would help him get answers, not at all. Nana would be as lost as him. But her mere presence would calm him down and make him a little less anxious. He would feel strong enough to deal with the entire shitstorm happening around him. He wouldn't be in that pathetic state of his, feeling sick and weak.

Popo mentally reprimanded himself. His sister was out there, having to fight for her life so she wouldn't end up as a trophy, and here he was, whining about feeling weak without her near him.

"Ugh, get a hold of yourself…"

"Dude, what is it taking you so long?" a certain psychic boy shouted from Master Hand's office. "Get your ass up here, before Zelda eats your kidney!"

Popo ran up as fast as he could and caught up to Ness in a few seconds. The jet haired looked at him with worried eyes. "Are you okay? You look pale," he commented.

"I'm not feeling very well, but it will pass. I'm okay," Popo said. It was a half-truth, at least.

Ness gave one more suspicious look at him, but said nothing. He had no energy to argue with Popo and tell him to stop lying. They had more important things to do than discussing feelings. One hour Popo would explode, and then they would talk for real.

"Whatever you say, Popo…"

* * *

"I've had enough with these heels!" Samus shouted in frustration. Palutena observed the bounty huntress angrily take off her boots like they were some kind of plague. It was rather amusing seeing someone as serious as Samus loose her cool because of footwear.

"They do seem painful," she commented.

"Seriously, I don't care if they are useful for kicking monsters in the face, these things are killing me," she said, giving her feet a massage. "It is a miracle we have managed to run away like this."

"Thanks for tanking the battle, by the way, Lucario," Palutena thanked the Pokémon that lay on the ground, completely exhausted.

The true miracle was that Lucario hadn't turned into a trophy at that point. Thanks to his exhaustion and injuries, his aura powers had gotten so strong that he was able to wipe out the mob that was attacking the trio. But to have powers that grew proportionally to its user's injuries was both a blessing and a curse at the same time for him. It was a depressing situation for him, to be this strong because of how much he was beaten up.

"_It was nothing,_" Lucario lied between heavy breaths.

Samus kicked her boots and sent them far away from her, a wave of relief washing over her and causing her to smile. She then noticed the weird look she was receiving from Palutena, who, in turn, looked away once she realized that Samus noticed her.

"What's the matter?" Samus asked.

"Oh, uh, sorry," the goddess let out an awkward smile. "It's just that I think you have a cute smile. You should do that more often, you know?"

"Stop joking," the blonde muttered as her face got a light shade of pink.

Palutena said nothing and let out an awkward laugh. "Anyway, we should get going, now that Miss Samus 'I-don't-smile-because-I'm-oh-so-tough' Aran is feeling better," she teased.

Samus couldn't stop her face from getting redder and redder. Why did she like to embarrass her so much?

"_If I may ask, could we please stay here for a little longer?"_ Lucario asked, still not moving an inch from where he was. He was pretty sure he had broken a bone or two at that point. "_Let me recover… a little more…"_

Lucario felt pain all over his body, to the point where he seriously thought about turning into a trophy just so he could heal completely after being revived. But something inside him refused to, and Lucario knew why.

Turning into a trophy was the closest thing to death someone could experience without actually dying. It was a process that brought all the agony and despair of death, but none of the peace one would get afterwards. It was horrible, no matter how tough the person could be. He also was not in the safest place. If he turned into a trophy, he would extremely vulnerable to Subspace creatures, even if Samus and Palutena being near him brought any comfort.

Samus agreed on staying there, for a while, so she didn't even bother on getting up from the floor either. She was tired and had lost all the focus on what they were trying to accomplish by wandering around Subspace. But Palutena still insisted.

"Hey, c'mon! We need to move forward," said the green haired woman. "What about Nana and Lucas? What about all the other Smashers?"

"Lucas and Nana fell down a cliff, while we were forced to run away to Master Hand knows where," Samus answered in irritation. "How do you expect us to find them?"

"We… We have to try!"

"Palutena, look at Lucario!" she pointed at the resting Pokémon. "Do you think he is in conditions of walking now? Our chances of being attacked won't change, no matter where we are. So let's rest while we can."

Palutena wanted to reply, but found no clever answer. She couldn't argue against the bounty huntress, as she knew she was right. It didn't matter where they went; their chances of being ambushed by creatures were the same.

For the first time in years, she felt hopeless and lost. She had no clever strategy plan, no idea where to go. Was that the despair that Pit mentioned he felt when inside this dark realm? Palutena was sure it was. Her spirit was heavy and all the light she had inside of her seemed to be slowly dimming out. She was as tired and hurt as the others.

"Alright, if you say so…" she sighed in defeat. Palutena then sat down next to Samus. "Let's just hope someone hasn't given up yet and finds us."

Samus could feel the passive-aggressive tone in the other's voice, but preferred not to argue. She was sure Palutena didn't mean to say it in that tone. She also, for some strange reason, didn't move when the goddess decided to rest her head on her shoulder.

"For someone who had been all high and mighty about continuing moving forward, you sure gave up rather quickly," the blonde teased.

"If the majority is going to be some quitter loser, you might as well do the same," she jokingly went along.

"So we are all a bunch of losers, uh?" she muttered, now getting a little drowsy.

"Nah… I was just joking."

They closed their eyes and continued like that for a good couple of minutes, enjoying the peaceful and quiet moment, not once paying attention to the muffled sound of laughter in the distance.

* * *

**You know, I feel that, the more I write, the more I'm losing focus on the Ice Climbers. I mean, yeah, they are still the main characters, but I'm also having so much fun writing about the other Smashers. I think I might change this story's title, but I'm still not sure.**

**Also, Popo thinking about how he could have ended up like the rejected Melee and Brawl veterans sure was one of the saddest things I had to wright. Oh, Popo, good thing you were not kicked out, right? **

**I'm just torturing myself here. Damn you, 3DS, and all your limitations.**


	13. Catching up with the lost times

Popo couldn't help but grin at the scene in front of him. Seated on the various sofas and cushions were the retired Melee and Brawl veterans, all looking extremely awkward for trying to keep quiet in order to not trigger the imposing princess that sat in the middle of one of the sofas. Popo knew they wanted to vent out their frustrations and questions, but they were all too familiar with Zelda to know that making her mad was a big mistake.

He heard Ness muffle a sound of laughter and the two decided to sit on the carpet floor. Apparently, he wasn't the only one to find that situation funny. Zelda gave an approving look at her fellow Smashers for managing to control themselves and begun the discussion.

"Alright, now that we have all calmed down, let us begin. Who wants to speak first?"

Red raised his hand, but didn't wait for the other's approval. "Okay, this is really weird," he said. "I could swear I was going back to Kanto. Master Hand had said so."

"Hey, Red," Ness called out. "Why were you going to quit Super Smash Bros anyway? I liked fighting against your Pokémon."

"Complaining from the audiences," the trainer replied bitterly. "They thought it was unfair to call me a Smasher because I technically didn't fight. They also weren't very fond of Squirtle and Ivysaur, according to Master Hand."

"(They only liked Charizard,)" Squirtle added, also very bitter. "(Speaking of Charizard, where the heck is him?)"

"_The young trainer apparently has had an experience similar to mine,_" Mewtwo said, not bothering in asking for permission to speak. "_I was thinking about leaving after Melee had ended, make no mistake. Yet, Master Hand had only agreed with me leaving after he had seen people complaining about my presence in the tournament._"

"Complaining about your presence!" Zelda repeated in disbelief. "Mewtwo, since you have left, people had been doing nothing but asking for your return. However, Master Hand had said that you didn't want to come back on your own free will."

"_I don't recall such request being made__,_" he shrugged the princess off.

"Hold on a sec'! So you mean there has been a tournament after we left?!" Roy asked. For how long had he been sleeping?

"One and a half, more or less," Popo said. "You kind of missed a lot of stuff, man."

"Is that why Zelda's hair look so different? I mean, she looks nice being a brunette and all, but it's weird."

Zelda preferred to ignore the redhead's remark, for her own sake. "Please, let us return to the topic. What was the last thing you have discussed with Master Hand before blacking out?"

"Not much, actually," Snake said while lighting up a cigarette. "I'm gonna assume he gave everyone here the same asinine excuse as to why we couldn't continue fighting. I packed up my stuff and followed him to his office to get some cash and my documents. Can't remember anything else after I stepped inside that office."

Zelda listened carefully to each and every Smasher's story. They all sounded the same, with them being led to Master Hand's office a couple of days before the rest of the fighters went back to their home worlds, at night, and passing out after they reached went inside. Zelda was sure that their host used that method to not raise suspicions, as everyone would be at their dorm rooms at that hour of the night and would rarely see what happened.

Crazy Hand's note came back to Popo's mind and his mood turned from bad to worse. How could their host do something like that? He, who treated them as his family? How could he keep them locked up in that room, making them unable to see their friends and beloved ones ever again? And why them? Was he afraid of them refusing to participate in a new tournament if he asked them?

All of the returning veterans had gone back to their homes before, and then came back eagerly to participate in the tournament again. If Master Hand was afraid of not having the Smashers available, why didn't he do the same to everyone?

The Ice Climber's mind went back to his home world, to his family and friends. He remembered the dangerous mountains he and Nana had climbed. He remembered all the perils they had to face in order to restore the stolen food from the orange condors that tormented their village. They had to face terrible snow storms, as well as topis and polar bears, two creatures that didn't take the invasion of stranger in their territories kindly. And once they recovered all the food, they returned home victorious, being considered heroes by everyone, from the elders, to the very young children.

Everyone in their little village… their family and friends…

Popo felt a little weird as he dug deeper into his memories. Some parts were a little blurry and he couldn't remember quite well what else he had been doing. He had their adventure and other small bits of his life very vivid in his mind, but for some odd reason, the rest felt like a blurry mess. Was his exhaustion and sickness affecting his memories too?

"Popo, are you feeling well?" Zelda asked as she noticed the boy contorting his face in pain and rubbing his temples. "Would you like to rest?"

He shot his eyes open and found everyone in the room staring back at him. With his face turning into a bright red color, he shook his head, unable to say a word. He hesitantly looked at Ness, whose glare demanded for an explanation for his strange behavior. It was a good thing that his psychic friend couldn't argue with him with that important reunion going on, or else, Popo didn't think he would have the energy to fight back and would collapse.

He made a gesture for them to continue, and so they did. "So, you're telling me we are already in the fourth installment of the tournament and all this time you thought we were back at home?" Wolf asked, still trying to grasp the reality of the situation. "You mean Star Fox didn't find it weird that I was not there once he returned too? What an inconsiderate prick!"

"I remember him talking about you these days," Rosalina said. "But it was never about your missions together at your home universe. He only mentioned about your performance and attitudes in the tournament."

"Missions together?! As in, you think we were friends?" the lupine howled in laughter. "Lady, we are nothing but enemies. I just didn't finish him off here at the mansion because there was no purpose, so I contented myself with a few harmless brawls."

"O-Oh, I thought you were. I haven't talked to him that much either, so I can't say much about his life."

"Don't sweat it. It's not your obligation to know this stuff."

"Soooo…" Red said. "Where is everyone else? And where is Charizard?"

"Kid, if you don't stop asking about your fucking dragon, I swear I'll…" Snake bit the rest of his cigarette in order to control himself. Red looked at him annoyed, but was still expecting an answer.

"Oh, he went to Subspace to help rescue the Smashers that were captured by some guy named Tabuu," Villager answered in the most brutal honesty possible.

"What?"

Zelda took a deep breath and counted to ten as her companions, once again, caused a ruckus and ran over each other with questions, thanks to that bit of information. "Villager, what have you done?" she whispered with her face hidden in her hands.

From the Brawl veteran's side, she was being bombarded with questions about how Tabuu could have returned and did Villager mean when he mentioned captured Smashers. On the Melee veteran's side, they couldn't stop nagging at her about what was Subspace in the first place. It reached a point where she couldn't even make out a single sentence.

Zelda hated messy discussions, especially the ones where people expected her to answer everything and attend everyone at the same time. She remained quiet for a few seconds, trying to shake off the stress building up inside of her, and that somehow had quieted the others down, as if by magic. She wasn't sure if it was her stern silence, or the fact that she looked like she was weeping, but it worked anyway. Letting out a sigh, she straightened herself up and proceeded on giving some general information about everything that happened in the past and in the present.

She told the Melee veterans about the Subspace war and who was Tabuu. She told them about how he had almost gotten away with taking over the entire Smash World, but in the end was stopped. The veterans, as well as the newcomers who weren't Villager, listened to her story carefully and could only nod in understanding once she finished.

Zelda then proceeded to explain about their current situation, about how some Smashers got captured in the middle of their fights, and how some of the Smashers that weren't captured had decided to go rescue them, Charizard included in that group, which Red sulk in his seat. She explained how there was also another group of Smashers who went on an investigation mission in order to find info about a mysterious aura Lucario had felt on the outskirts. This resulted in just a very small fraction of people to still remain in the mansion.

"We were searching for information about Subspace when we found out about the room you were locked in," Zelda finished her exposition.

They digested all of that information in silence, still trying to figure it out what to make about the situation. Popo looked at each and every one of them, curious about their reactions. Snake and Wolf were by far the ones who seemed to be taking everything calmly. Maybe it was the fact that both had already some experience with Subspace, or that both were the cold and calculative types, but they didn't look like they were having problems accepting the situation.

Red looked a lot more worried, but that probably had to do with the fact that one of his Pokémon might be in trouble, which made Popo sympathize with him. Roy and Young Link had their mouths shut tight and both seemed to be lost deep in thought. Mewtwo had his eyes closed and had a face that said that he wouldn't like to be disturbed at that point. As for Pichu…

"Uh? Hey, have you guys seen Pichu?" Popo asked. "He isn't here…"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I said," he answered. "Pichu isn't here with us."

The Smashers looked around them, some with eyes full of guilt for not realizing that the small electric Pokémon was absent. They were so fully emerged in their conversation that they had completely forgotten about checking if everyone was there.

"Do you think he's still in the room?" Roy asked scratching his head. "Are you sure you have revived all of us?"

"If we missed a trophy, we would have noticed it," Ness said with crossed arms.

"I'm just sayin', I doubt he would stay in that room if he was freed."

Young Link was the first one to get up and head towards the room in Master Hand's office, worried sick about his friend. Zelda shouted that it was dangerous to roam around the mansion alone, but since he seemed to have ignored her, she got up and ran after Link's young counterpart. She was soon followed by the other Smashers, even by the ones who didn't know who was Pichu.

They have reached the office and entered the room that was left opened and with the lights on. Just like Ness said, there was no trophy left there. They had revived everyone. So if Pichu wasn't with them, it meant he wasn't there in the room with the others to begin with. Roy asked if Pichu hadn't just been sent home by Master Hand, but considering everything that happened, it was very unlikely. Master Hand has probably hidden his trophy somewhere else in the mansion.

"Are you sure we have to go out and search for him?" Snake asked bluntly. "I mean, trophy or not, he is safe. Shouldn't we be worrying about Tabuu instead?"

If looks could kill, Snake would be dead on the spot from Young Link's cold glare. The boy refused to leave Pichu alone, no matter how big of a threat this Subspace could be. They just had to look better.

"Eh?"

A very faint golden light on the ground, coming from under the stairs, caught his attention. The light was probably the reflection of some kind of metal. To Young Link, that could only mean one thing, and that alone made him grin.

There was a trophy under the stairs. Pichu's trophy.

He rushed to the stairs, raising a few eyebrows in response. Young Link felt happy that he was able to reunite again with Pichu, even if he still didn't understand why Master Hand decided to hide him under the stairs, instead of placing him together with everyone. But it didn't matter, because everyone would be together again.

However, once the trophy came into light, his cheerful expression disappeared, being replaced by a look of shock and confusion. He heard a few gasps of surprise from the people behind him and tapped the base of the trophy with shaky hands, awakening the trapped Smasher.

"(Umm… what's going on?)" the Smasher yawned. "(Where am I?)"

* * *

Lucas tried to concentrate solely on his footsteps, never to pay attention to the horrible thoughts that assaulted his mind, as he and Nana followed the Primids from a distance through the dark corridors made of semi-translucent stone. The more they followed, the more he felt afraid. He didn't want to face Tabuu, not with only him and Nana there. After all, it took 38 of them to destroy the lord of Subspace last time, and they had barely made it. What chances did the two of them have now?

But he needed to be brave. His friends depended on them to rescue them, and Lucas couldn't run away now.

"I can't run away, I can't run away…" he chanted under his breath, hoping that, the more he said it, the more he felt strong to face Tabuu.

"What did you say?" Nana whispered, not quite understanding what her friend was mumbling.

"Just something to calm me down…"

Lucas saw Nana shrug her shoulders and the two continued walking. He couldn't run away, he knew that very well. But what to do when none of them were in conditions of fighting?

He saw how desperate Nana was to cover up that she wasn't feeling physically well, but only a blind person wouldn't notice that. Her steps were slower and heavier than usual, her breathing was also pretty loud and her eyes looked empty and hollow. Lucas stayed very close to her side, as he feared she might pass out at any given moment.

Did she get a fever or something?

They seemed to be reaching the end of the corridor, as all the Primids have stopped on their tracks and, with that, so did the two Smashers. A huge purple door stood ahead of the group, a sign that Tabuu awaited at the other side. Now it was the chance for them to rescue Link, Pikachu and whoever else that got caught. Only the two of them wouldn't do, but with the full-time veterans at their side, they had the perfect chance of escaping.

For now, that is.

The door opened and the Primids entered, with Nana and Lucas getting in a couple of seconds after, before the door closed. What was at the other side caught them by surprise, to say the least.

"O-Oh, my God," Lucas stuttered.

The first thing that got their attention was the full-time veterans trophies rearranged into two separated columns very far away from the room, near an empty lilac throne. There were 6 in total, 7 counting with Link, making their jaws drop at how fast Tabuu had captured them. All of them were part of the original 12 fighters.

The room they stood in was very spacious and regal looking, in its own twisted way. There was a straight path made of a light colored material that contrasted with the rest of the dark floor, which lead to the throne and the Smashers. There were four translucent fountains on the walls, all of them dripping shadow bugs, instead of water. A chandelier hung on the roof (the only thing that looked normal to the two) illuminated the place, along with the shiny lining of the plain rocks that made up the walls.

The Primids had finished setting Link's trophy down, next to Mario, and then turned their attention to the two intruders. The two, in turn, snapped back to reality and got into their fighting stances, with Lucas hands glowing from his psychic energy and Nana bringing her hammer closer to her. If they could pass through that mob, they could revive everyone and get out of there.

A bead of sweat escaped from Nana's forehead as she formulated a battle strategy and an escape route. Maybe if she and Lucas went each to one side, they could…

"_It is useless to fight here. Give up__,__" _a sinister voice whispered in her ear.

Her entire body seemed to freeze on the spot at she saw a blue smoke in the shape of a human float right beside her. Lucas also stood there, completely petrified from its presence. They knew the owner of that voice all too well.

"You…" Nana gritted her teeth. She swung her hammer at the entity that floated by her side and ended up hitting nothing.

"_You didn't really think you could hit me, did you?"_ Tabuu asked, completely amused that that was the girl's first reaction upon seeing him again.

She bit her lower lip, trying her best to not make eye contact with him. She saw that the Primids had stopped advancing at them, thanks to their leader being there.

"_I must say__,__ it is quite adorable that you two brats thought that you could rescue the captured Original Twelve here, where I hold the most power__,_" he commented casually as he floated now to Lucas' side. "_Oh, please, do feel at home__.__ It isn't like I will let you go that easily anyway."_

"Wh-What makes you so sure that we can't kick their asses and revive our friends?" Nana asked and pointed a trembling finger at the Primids.

Tabuu merely sneered. "_Even if you, by some ungodly miracle, manage to defeat all of my Primids, there's plenty more from where they came from. You see those fountains?" _the smoke pointed at shadow bugs dripping from the fountains. "_Those are shadow bugs, all nicely concentrated for me to create as many creatures as I please. I may not be able to cause you direct harm anymore, but I still hold power over the creation of my minions."_

She felt his two non-solid hands caress her cheeks and quickly pulled away from them. She threw him the dirtiest and most defiant look she could come up with. Even though Tabuu had no longer a face, she could sense he was grinning.

"_Besides, I can see from your face that you don't look too well. You might as well just be a burden for your little friend over there," _he pointed at the tensed up blonde.

"Nana…" Lucas started, not sure about what else to say.

"_Unless, of course, you expect him to fight off my horde of Primids all by himself. If that's the case, knock yourselves out. Be my guests!"_

None of them said a word, but Lucas could see that Nana's eyes were full of regret and worry. She turned to him and whispered "I'm sorry", now fully realizing what she had gotten themselves into.

"_Well, I guess we already have settled everything up, right?" _Tabuu announced and then floated towards his throne. "_Come in, now; don't be shy! Let's chat for a while. We have all the time in the world."_

* * *

"Samus, get up!" Palutena said as she quickly got to her feet. "I think some enemies are approaching!"

"Alright, alright," Samus grumbled. She took Palutena's helping hand and pulled herself up. "These ten minutes of rest were good, while they lasted."

"They sure were."

Samus looked worriedly at Lucario and saw that the Pokémon got already back on his feet. Though, on his feet was an understatement, as Lucario could barely stand firmly on his knees. He wouldn't make it after this upcoming fight; that was very clear to her. Samus had to be prepared to revive him as soon as possible.

A task pretty difficult to achieve, considering how the Subspace army wouldn't leave her alone.

"Let's stay close," said the goddess walking towards Lucario and pulling Samus along by the arm. "I can see that you will need some help soon, Lucario."

"_Thank you very much…"_

"I don't think it's a good idea to keep me near you," she pulled her arm away. "With the Subspace army after me, it'll be better if I-"

She was interrupted by Palutena gently taking her hand, intertwining their fingers. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt the other's green eyes staring at hers.

"Don't you ever say something like that again," Palutena said, her voice serious, but gentle. "The fact that they are after you is all the more reason to not leave your side."

"_Palutena is correct_," Lucario agreed. "_You are their target, after all. We can't let what they did to Pikachu happen to you_."

Samus' face grew hotter and hotter with that situation, yet she didn't want to push Palutena away. "I don't want you to risk yourselves for me."

"Well, I don't want to lose you, either," she squeezed her hand. "No matter what happens, I will do what I can to help to protect you."

"S-Stop joking."

"I'm not joking."

Samus feared her heart might jump from her mouth. It might as well jump, so she could stop blushing that hard.

Why did Palutena like to embarrass her that much?

Lucario just watched the whole scene with curiosity. He couldn't recall when was the last time he had seen Samus' face that red, so it was always interesting to see her like that. If he had paid attention to the way Palutena looked at the Samus, he would have understood the reason better.

"They are coming," Lucario warned.

A group of Armights descended from the skies, all of them with the sharp swords they carried in their noodle arms ready. There were only four of them, and the battle would be relatively easy. Even in their terrible state, they could take out on the Armights.

That is until, along with the Armights, a group of three Cymuls appeared. They spun the four blades that made part of their spherical body, like a chainsaw. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Samus complained while clenching her teeth.

The body of a Cymul could reflect any kind of projectiles, thanks to their bodies made entirely of metal. And for someone who was depending almost entirely on her paralyzer gun, Samus was at a great disadvantage regarding the Cymuls.

"Lucario, take out the Cymuls. Samus, you go after the Armights," Palutena ordered. "I'll try to handle both."

The two veterans nodded and got into their fighting stances. As they got closer, Lucario gathered all the strength he could muster up, got close to one of the Cymuls and gave out a kick so strong on its lower bottom that it destroyed the creature in one hit. The effort, however, proved to be too much, and Lucario fell to his knees with a yell of pain.

The other two Cymuls floated towards the injured Pokémon and spun their blades, hitting his thorax from both sides. Lucario couldn't resist any longer and hit the cold ground. His entire body began to be enveloped by the familiar golden light, first paralyzing all of his five senses, then shutting down the rest of his consciousness. In mere five agonizing seconds, he became a trophy.

"Lucario!" Samus shouted.

She ran off to where he was, but one of the Armights got in her way and swung its swords in a horizontal and diagonal motion, forcing her back away. Samus used the plasma whip from her gun to strike back, and it seemed to work at first. The Armight flinched and floated backwards, allowing her to dodge the creature. However, the Cymuls were still pretty close to the trophy, and getting there would be really risky.

Two Armights came from behind her, aiming for Samus' torso. Palutena took the chance that the creatures were distracted and assaulted them with her mighty staff in the middle of the air, but not before being slashed in the stomach by one of their swords. She stumbled on the ground and was helped by Samus, now worried that she might be transformed into a trophy as well.

"Are you alright?" she asked while offering her hand to Palutena.

"Can't say I am," she took the other's hand. "But I could be worse."

With four Armights and two Cymuls against them, the two women knew that what they weren't in a battle anymore, they were in an endurance test. They stood back to back as they were being enclosed by the creatures, unsure about how to proceed.

One Armight and one Cymul charged at Samus, who quickly whipped the two with her plasma whip. "Samus, get down!" Palutena exclaimed.

Without thinking much about what the goddess intended to do, Samus crouched on the floor and took a quick glance behind her. She saw that Palutena had turned around, facing the enemies in the same direction as her and now rested her hands on the blonde's shoulders. Two impressive and pure white wings had sprouted from the goddess' back, which she promptly used them to hit the Armight and Cymul that were dangerously close to them. The attack was strong enough to get rid of the Cymul, but the Armight was still appeared firm and strong.

Palutena let out a cry of pain as one of the Armights behind her took the opportunity that she was distracted to stab her in the back. Samus' face paled once she felt her partner fall lifelessly on her back, dropping her staff in the process.

She turned around and held her in her arms, switching glances between her and Lucario's trophy. "Oh, no! No, no, no, no," she whispered with a shaky voice, sweeping off a few strands of hair from the goddess' face. "Hey, c'mon! Weren't you the one who was bragging about protecting me and everything? Come on, get up, Palutena!"

Palutena fluttered her eyes open, the action proving to be too much effort. Samus' worried face appeared in her camp of vision, which made her smile a bittersweet smile.

"I'm so sorry…" was all she could say, too weak to warn about the two Armights right behind her.

The creatures brought down their blades on the two Smashers. A bright golden light enveloped their bodies, while their minds fell into the darkness.

* * *

_Being locked in the darkness was nothing new to her. But what was new to her was her incapacity to feel any sort of emotion. It was a cold and numbing darkness that swallowed her whole, nothing like the kind that she had to deal with again and again back in her home universe. That type of darkness brought fear and despair. In a way, it made her feel alive. _

_But, here? Nothing. There was only indifference. She could scream for help, but what was the point in doing that? There was nothing there. Nothing to care about. It was only her and that mind-numbing darkness. _

_Time didn't seem to matter either. Whenever it passed minutes, hours or years, she couldn't care less. _

_All that she could care, at the moment, was about the bright spot of light in the distance that continued to grow, as if trying to break her free from that prison she found herself in._

"…tena?" a female voice called out, slowly bringing the goddess back to her senses. "Palutena, please tell me you are okay!"

The goddess snapped her eyes open and got up from the floor, her body feeling completely revitalized. She seemed to have regained her strength, and her injuries were apparently gone. But how? The last thing she remembered to be doing was…

"S-Samus?!" she cried out for the bounty huntress.

Her face fell flat as she saw who the owner of the voice was. In front of her stood a white haired girl wearing a heavy purple robe, watching her with very confused brown eyes.

"Samus? What are you talking about, Palutena? It's me, Robin," she asked in concern. Had the memories of the deity been altered, or something similar?

Palutena looked around her, only now realizing that she had been turned into a trophy and that it was Robin who had rescued her. She saw Ike reviving Lucario, while Diddy Kong, DeDeDe, Peach, Mega Man and Charizard watched over the area that they were in, in order to prevent them from being caught in a surprise attack. Samus was nowhere to be seen.

They had taken Samus away and all that Palutena could do, at that moment, was to fall on her knees and cry.

* * *

**I'm sorry for Palutena's slight OOCness, only not really. Now all I want is to read SamusxPalutena fics, but they are non-existent. This is what I get for having a crack OTP. **

**Oh, well…**


	14. Three days of sleep

**Before I start, I just want to thank you guys for the reviews! I've realized I have never mentioned it, but your comments mean a lot to me. ^^**

* * *

"_You kids are so quiet_," Tabuu commented. "_Have you always been like this?"_

When Nana thought her face of disgust couldn't get any uglier, that little bit of dialogue came up to remind her that she was, once again, wrong about an assumption she made. "I'm just very shy," she answered in a deadpan voice.

Lucas bit his lower lip and looked at her with pleading eyes, as if asking her to not trigger their captor. Even if Tabuu was planning on transforming both of them in trophies sooner or later, and only kept them like that for his own amusement, it still wasn't a good idea to get on his bad side. The two of them simply stood side by side, facing Tabuu as if they were having an audition with him. The horde of Primids encircled them from every possible angle, making it difficult for them to find a way to revive their friends, or even escape alone.

Their friends were so close… and Lucas couldn't even reach his hand out to them.

Tabuu simply laughed and continued to humor himself.

"_You didn't look that shy when you were destroying my minions."_

"And how did you know that?" she raised an eyebrow.

"_Ahhhh, now you're opening up, I see," _Tabuu said in a satisfied tone. "_You think I haven't been observing each and every one of you since you have arrived here? How do you think I knew where to send my minions to attack your friends?_"

So that was why they couldn't catch a break. Nana could feel the blood inside of her boil with hatred. Was Tabuu ever this cocky before? Nana never got the chance to know anything about him before. She wished she still didn't. His smug tone of voice was seriously driving her off the edge.

"What are you going to do to them?" she pointed at the trophies by her side.

"_Aren't you going to ask first about what had happened to me, for me to look like this?_" Tabuu asked. "_It is really inconsiderate to ignore the current state of your host."_

Nana furrowed her eyebrows at that sentence, as it was obvious Tabuu wasn't in the mood of answering her questions. All she could do was go along with him. "Okay, then. What happened that made you look like this?"

"_Ah, what an excellent question_," he said with a smug. "_As you may remember, years ago I have tried to take over the Smash world, but my plans got cancelled by some… very meddling Smashers._"

"We thought we have defeated you that time," Lucas said shyly. "I-I mean, we saw you exploding and then Subspace retrieved and then…"

"_At that moment, I thought I was done for too_," his voice boomed with sudden hints of anger. "_I could feel death near, especially after Mario's final blow on my chest. But I knew that I would still have a chance of surviving if I stopped fighting there, and that's what I did. I gathered every ounce of strength I still had and retreaded_."

"You mean… When we freed those territories…"

"_You didn't free anything! I let you and those territories go,_" his anger seemed to grow at each word. "_However, in order to reverse something like the damage I have caused, it took a lot more out of me. I lost all of my powers while trying not to die, except for the control I have over my territory and minions. Thanks to you, I HAVE NOTHING LEFT!_"

Lucas took a step back and swallowed dry as he feared Tabuu would unleash the Primids at them right there. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. The boy thought he would have a heart attack at any moment. Nana also was pretty scared, despite her pose of defiance. They wouldn't leave that place alive, she was sure of that.

If only they could reach their friends' trophies…

"_But not everything is lost," _he said. His mood had made a sudden 180 angle turn. "_There is a way I can recover my body and my powers. And in order to achieve that, I'll need to borrow the Original Twelve for a while, as they are the key to my success. I hope you do understand this mild inconvenience."_

"Oh, sure, why not?" Nana answered sarcastically. "Don't let us stop you from having your fun!"

"_That is exactly what I'm doing."_

Nana couldn't stop shaking, be it from how Tabuu seemed to be really close to unleashing the Primids on them, or the fact that she felt so ill that she wanted to lie on the floor and sleep for years. She needed to hold on, just enough to take out enough information from him.

"What do our friends have to do with your plan on recovering your powers?" Lucas asked.

"_Don't be so impatient! You'll see soon enough, once I get every one of them__,__" _the lord of Subspace said as he opened a viewing cloud in front of the two kids.

Their eyes grew wider at the sight of Samus' trophy being carried by a trio of Armights that floated proudly towards a purple door that appeared right in front of them. Tabuu's satisfaction only got bigger as he saw their despair apparent on their faces. Lucas quickly recounted the Smashers that were already captured, including Samus, and came to a grim realization that the only ones who still were okay were Donkey Kong, Luigi, Jigglypuff and Ness.

He shouldn't be that relieved that Ness was alive and well. Not with everything else happening to the other Smashers, and especially to himself. And also because that didn't necessarily mean Ness was safe.

"I'm curious about something…" the blonde asked cautiously, only continuing further after he received their captor's approval. "This cloud thing you do to spy on everyone, can you use it to see what's happening outside of Subspace too?"

"_Indeed I can, but to do so, I lose sight of what's happening inside my realm, and I can only see as much as what my minions see," _he said waving the problem off. "_I admit it can be very limiting, but it is better than nothing."_

"So you really have eyes everywhere…"

Nana had never felt so hopeless in her entire life. Even without his body or powers, Tabuu was having such a huge advantage over them, it was getting ridiculous. What were the Smashers doing wrong? They were facing off a guy with no body and they still were being defeated! What they went through last time was nothing compared to what was happening now. What were they doing different this time?

"_Though, I have to admit, getting your friends at the other side will be the real challenge," _Tabuu commented. "_The remaining Smashers outside just won't separate for nothing. My Floows were this close to capturing Ness, when suddenly a lot of them showed up and defeated them."_

And then the realization came to Nana. They were being defeated because most of them didn't stick together as a big group. When she was with Lucas, Palutena, Samus and Lucario, they weren't having too many problems facing off Subspace creatures. When both she and Lucas were separated from their group, Samus suddenly got captured. Of course, that wasn't the only factor, but it was still a pretty big one.

Lucas simply stood there, too tense to open his mouth. He clenched his teeth and had his hand tightly shut into two fists, trying his best to remain calm. The mere mention that Tabuu had almost captured Ness made his entire body stir. That sudden nervousness didn't go unnoticed by their captor.

"_Oh,_ _did I strike a nerve?" _he asked with a voice full of malice. "_Are you worried about Ness?"_

"W-Well, of course I am," he stuttered with jittering teeth. "I-I am worried a-about everyone."

"_Yes, I can see that. But I can also see that__,__ when it came to me mentioning Ness, you got especially nervous," _Tabuu floated from his throne toward the young blonde. "_Tell me, Lucas, what is your connection to that boy?"_

"I…"

"Why do you wanna know?" Nana asked. Lucas' worries only grew bigger as he noticed how her voice wasn't much louder than a whisper.

"_Hush, now, or you might pass out from the effort of standing up," _Tabuu mocked before turning his attention to Lucas again. "_I asked you a question, and I want you to answer honestly. What is your relationship to Ness?"_

Lucas wanted to stay silent, he really did. But would it do any favors to them if he opposed Tabuu? He would only make him furious, and who knows what would happen if that happened. Tabuu had both of them in a position that defiance would be one of the last sensible things to do.

"He is my best friend," Lucas answered honestly. "He's always got my back, no matter if I'm alone or not, so that's why I worry for him too."

"_So I take that his feelings for you are mutual," _he mused. Tabuu quietly floated back to his throne, deep in thought.

A terrible feeling punched Nana in the guts as the sudden silence took over the room, being interrupted only by the grumbles of the Primids that still circled them. Tabuu being interested in Lucas' relationship with Ness wasn't just mere curiosity, this she could see very well.

"Lucas, I don't think you should have said that," Nana whispered to her friend.

"What do you mean?"

"_Well, I suppose he misses his dear best friend a lot," _Tabuu said. "_I'm sure Ness will be happy to see that Lucas has returned for him."_

And then, without Tabuu uttering a word, the Primids enclosed the circle and parted for the attack.

* * *

"(Uh… hey, what are the Melee and Brawl veterans doing here?)" He cocked his head to the side. "(Are they going to participate on the tournament as last minute additions?)"

The Smasher was taken aback from the cries of surprise he received from most of the people there, especially from the Smashers that were currently participating in the new tournament. What was their issue and why didn't any of them answer his question?

"Pikachu?! What are you doing down here?!" Ness exclaimed.

"(Ness, pipe down, 'cause I also have no idea what is going on,)" Pikachu complained. "(I remember Master Hand asking me to go to his office to talk for a while, probably give me a kick in the butt for causing a blackout, and then WHAM! I wake up here. Where are we anyway?)"

"_You are in a secret room that lies below Master Hand's office," _Mewtwo explained, also serving as a translator to the Smashers that weren't Pokémon.

"(Why…? Never knew he had one of those,)" the yellow mouse scratched his long ears. "(But in all seriousness, what are YOU doing here, Mewtwo? Didn't you receive the boot or something like that?)"

"_Your lack of respect for others continues as astounding as ever," _the psychic legendary said in irritation and shifty eyes. "_Yes, we did receive 'the boot', as you eloquently describe it, yet we were not sent home. Master Hand has imprisoned us in our trophy forms here this entire time."_

Pikachu looked at Mewtwo in disbelief, and then examined each Smasher's expression, expecting to catch a glimpse of a muffled laugh, as if that was some elaborate joke. His ears dropped as he saw that none of them were trying to hide a smile or a giggle. They were all serious and somber.

"(And… you're telling me that he kept me locked away with you guys?)"

"_We found your trophy under those stairs," _he pointed at the stairs behind the disoriented Pikachu.

"Look, this is getting pretty confusing," Ness said rubbing his temples with his index finger. "I mean, just how long have you been here, Pikachu?"

"(I dunno. A few hours, maybe?)"

Greninja, who had been quiet this entire time, has finally spoken: "(Pikachu, you said you were called to Master Hand's office and suddenly woke up here, right?)"

"(Yeah, why?)"

"(Well, that was three days before the tournament has officially started. So let's see…)" Greninja then counted on his three amphibian fingers. "(If we consider that the tournament has officially begun this morning, and we're in the middle of the night, then that means you have been here for almost four days. Three and a half, yeah.)"

"(WHAT?!)" Pikachu shouted, sparks flying through his red cheeks. "(What'chu mean the tournament has officially begun and this entire time I've been sleeping here?!)"

The Smashers stepped back because of Pikachu's sudden outburst. For him to have a reaction like that, nothing good could come out from what Greninja had said.

"H-Hey, there is no need to…" Red was cut off by another spark.

"(If I have been locked here all this time, why didn't you guys miss me?!)" he continued ranting. "(What great friends you are! I suddenly go missing and nobody notices! I disappear, and you guys are all 'Welp, looks like he is gone. Woop-de-frigging-do, let's all just go on with our lives and not even ask ourselves why Pikachu isn't here! He was always a pain in the neck anyway'. Also, why didn't Master Hand…)" some tears started to form in the corner of his eyes, which made Pikachu furiously try to fight them back. "(Why did Master Hand… I mean, he…)"

"(But, Pikachu…)" Greninja said uneasily. "(The thing is… you didn't go missing.)"

"(Uh?)" he sniffed.

"(We saw you the next morning, training with Lucario. I remember walking by your side at the opening ceremony.)"

Mewtwo translated the whole conversation to the other Smashers, only leaving out Pikachu's unnecessary rant about how horrible the rest of the Smashers were for forgetting about him. Everyone stayed quiet for a moment, trying to figure it out what was going on.

"_How is it possible for Pikachu to be at both places at the same time?" _Mewtwo asked.

Nobody had an answer. To them, until now, Pikachu was one of the Smashers that got captured by Subspace. They were sure he was with the other Smashers. To suddenly see him back at the Smash Mansion was a huge shock to everyone. Nobody had any idea who that doppelganger of his could be. To top it all, Pichu was still missing. Not only did they have to deal with a missing Smasher, now they had to figure it out who was living Pikachu's life for him during those three and a half days.

Red clasped his hands together and placed them on his lips, trying to connect the dots. Pikachu had been missing, yet the other Smashers claimed that he had been walking around the mansion this entire time. Pichu, on the other hand, was supposed to be in the "trophy room", alongside everyone else who had been rejected, but, for some mysterious reasons, was missing…

It didn't take very long for Red to realize what was going on.

"Oh, for Arceus' sake…" he whispered.

His theory would sound very absurd to those who were not from his home universe, but it was the only explanation he could come up with. He took comfort in knowing that the Pokémon there would understand, at least.

"Guys, I think I know what is going on with Pikachu," he said, making all heads turn to him.

"Finally someone figures something out!" Ness celebrated. "It's a miracle!"

"Uh, yeah, don't go on celebrating that early, because it's not going to clarify a lot of stuff," he rested his hands on the back of his head. "How can I say this? Umm, well… You see…"

"Spill the beans already, kid!" Wolf snarled.

"Fine! Basically, what I'm saying is…" Red said. "I think that the Pikachu you guys have been talking to these past three days might be an evolved Pichu. That's why you guys didn't notice."

* * *

Ness and Popo sat on one of the mansion's garden benches, none of them wanting to exchange a word. They could still hear Pikachu's distressed breakdown that was happening inside the mansion, while the other Smashers tried to calm down the hysterical Pokémon. None of them could blame Pikachu for the way he felt about the whole situation, especially considering the possibility that one of his best friends, who he had discovered was being held captive right under his nose, was now in danger while trying to impersonate him.

None of them would blame Pikachu if he decided to swear death on Master Hand. Even if he took it back later, what their host had done to him was a huge betrayal. But they could blame the yellow mouse if he ended up hurting someone accidentally with his electric attacks, which was why the Smashers were trying to calm him down.

Popo looked upwards, towards the peaceful dark sky filled with stars. It was almost surreal how pleasant the night was. The temperature was nice, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and, aside from Pikachu's angry cries, everything seemed nice and quiet. But his spirit wasn't relaxed, nor did he feel calm. On the contrary, the more he looked at the stars shining brightly, the more he felt his chest tighten at the thought that his sister was in a place where she couldn't enjoy one moment of peace.

Just like Pikachu cried over Pichu, all Popo wanted was to do the same for Nana. But he had no energy inside of him to cry. The more time passed by, the more he felt sick. The more he wanted to lie down and never wake up, which was the reason why Ness excused himself and decided to take Popo outside and breathe some fresh air. Villager, Young Link, Rosalina and Luma also went with them by Zelda's request. The princess was very rigid when it came to their safety.

After all, last time Popo and Ness were alone, they were attacked by a mob of Floows. Despite them not finding any other Subspace creature, it was better to stay close to a big group.

Villager strolled around the garden, every once in a while stopping to appreciate some bug he'd find near the bushes or trees. Young Link sat on another bench not far away from Popo and Ness, playing with his ocarina, while Rosalina sat by his side, humming softly along with the music and petting a drowsy Luma.

After what seemed to be forever, Ness had finally decided to break the silence between the two: "That sure went well," he said.

"Super," Popo replied in the same sarcastic tone. "We sure will have a lot to say when the others come back from their trip to the outskirts."

There was an awkward silence between the two that seemed to go on forever, until Ness decided to talk again.

"Popo, how bad is your fever doing?"

"What fever?"

"The one that's making your face look like you're about to drop dead," Ness sighed. "Popo, stop being so stubborn and tell me what you're going through at least once in your life?"

"I don't even know anymore," Popo mumbled. "I have no idea how I got this sick to begin with."

"But you are sick, right?"

"Why are you so interested?"

"I can help you."

"How so?"

"With my PK powers, of course," Ness gave out a toothy smile. "I can make you feel better in a second."

"I don't remember you having healing powers. You sure you're not just letting your ego get into your head?" Popo chuckled. His felt his pressure fall and immediately regretted opening his mouth.

"I'm serious, I have healing powers!" Ness reassured him. "I just never used them because I never needed before."

Popo weakly nodded, not feeling well enough to banter with his psychic friend. Ness grinned at his approval and placed his hands a few centimeters away from his forehead and chest. He seemed genuinely happy to be helping. Despite his bratty attitudes and inflated ego, Ness was a really sweet kid and always tried to make sure his friends were okay. So Popo couldn't really feel that annoyed by his constant worrying. In a way, he almost felt flattered.

"Here goes nothing," he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "PK Healing Alpha."

Nothing happened.

Ness opened his eyes and furrowed his brows at the lack of reaction to his command. "Okay, when I said 'here goes nothing', I didn't mean it literally," he said. "PK Healing Alpha!"

Nothing happened again. "PK Healing Alpha!" Ness pleaded. Popo raised an eyebrow at his friend's growing distress as he repeated again and again his healing power's name, without having an effect. After realizing it was useless to continue trying, Ness quickly got up from the bench.

"Ness?"

"Okay, calm down. Calm down, there's nothing wrong…" he kept walking back and forth.

"I am calm."

"Yeah, but I'm not!"

"So…"

"PK Spark!" Ness exclaimed.

Popo watched his friend create a big ball of green energy above his head, only for it to explode later. Ness attracted a few curious glares from the other Smashers on the garden, but paid no attention to them. He then proceeded on creating PK Fire, PK Thunder (being extra careful with those two attacks to not accidentally cause a fire in the garden) and a PSI Magnet. All of those powers seemed to be working just fine, which made the PK user even more confused.

"Why isn't my PK Healing working?" he looked at his own hands. "You saw that, right? Everything else is working, except my PK Healing."

"I dunno," Popo answered with his eyes closed and taking deep breaths. He seemed to be getting a little better from the pressure drop, which wasn't much, but it still served as some sort of relief for him. "Lack of use, maybe?"

"I'm being serious here!" Ness snapped.

"Sorry," the Ice Climber sighed. "Ness, there's just so much happening right now, I can't even think about what might have happened to your healing powers. I can't even concentrate on what to do after the investigation group comes back and about Pikachu's problem at the same time without having a migraine."

"Tell me about it…" the jet-haired grumbled and went back to his seat. "Looks like I can't cure your illness, then."

"You tried. You'll get a gold star later, for effort."

"Y'know, Popo, research says that being a smartass only worsens your health. Maybe you should stop being one, or else, you might die from all that sass," Ness teased.

"I'll try to tone down my dose of smartassness as much as I can, doctor Ness."

The two got quiet once again, each with their minds in their own little world, listening to the sound of the cicadas and the soft melody that came from Young Link's ocarina.

Nana and Lucas were still both trapped inside Subspace, as well as all the other Smashers. Toon Link went with the rescue group and was also now inside of Subspace having to fight off all kind of Subspace creatures. They had to wait for the investigation group to return and explain to them that Master Hand had been holding hostage almost all of the Melee and Brawl retired veterans, with the exception of Pichu, who was out there pretending to be Pikachu, who was locked together with the other retired Smashers in the other's place.

In other words, the more they thought about the whole situation, the more headaches both boys got. To think that, at first, they thought their only worries would be Tabuu.

They heard Villager excuse himself and go back to inside the mansion. Apparently, he was still holding that diary he had found inside Master Hand's drawer and wanted to give it to Zelda. He promised he would be back in a minute, so nobody had any objections to that. No big deal.

A couple of minutes had passed, until Ness heard the rustle of leafs coming from one of the nearby bushes. It was a very subtle noise, one that could be heard only from someone who was very close to it. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up at that sudden noise.

He got up from the bench and held a firm grip on his baseball bat, ready to obliterate whatever creature that wanted to hurt him or his friends. He really wasn't in the mood for fighting Subspace creatures. Popo also tried to get up, albeit not as gracefully as Ness, and sluggishly held his wooden hammer. For the jet-haired to be that alert, nothing good could be.

However, as soon as the source of the sound showed up, both boys' eyes widened, their shock and surprise almost making them drop their weapons on the floor. Ahead of them stood a short blonde boy wearing a stripped t-shirt and blue jeans cargo shorts, his delicate face sporting a playful smile. Ness couldn't believe in his eyes.

"L-Luke?"

* * *

**Also, I've been re-reading this and finding some glaring grammatical mistakes, so I'm doing what I can to fix them. I really need a beta, ugh! **

**But that's pretty much all I've wanted to say. Again, thanks for reading!**


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